


Contempt of Court

by Omnessicfaciunt



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Courtroom Drama, F/F, Fake Marriage, Unhappy Ending, she don't get the girl, someday I will return from the covid wars, today is not that day, tomorrow doesn't look good either, unintentional sad ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:37:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 50,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24900142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omnessicfaciunt/pseuds/Omnessicfaciunt
Summary: “Oh my god,” Lena cried as reality slammed back into her. “Oh, okay. Wake up! Wake up, Kara!”“What…?” Kara asked as she dragged a hand down her face to get the sleep out of her eyes.“Did we get married last night?”“Yes, I think we did...”(Laws of Attraction AU)
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Mon-El/Winn Schott Jr.
Comments: 265
Kudos: 997





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've changed this to be a completed work because I don't think I'll be able to add to it again for quite some time, but I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it some day... it does have a nice wrapped-up ending, but it's not the 'happy ending' I wanted :(

The compact sedan cruised gently through the downtown streets of a busy National City. It was easy to keep a low profile in such a packed city, but that didn’t stop Lena from anxiously glancing out of the tinted windows. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt as the man beside her droned on and on.

“I’m just saying,” Jack’s voice cut through her thoughts, “if you made more of an effort to talk to people, you may get a girl to ask you out.”

Lena had to laugh at the mere suggestion. “I have no trouble picking up chicks. Besides, what makes you think I’d take your advice?”

“I’m talking about dating, Lena.” Jack put down the phone he was mindlessly scrolling through to give her a stern look. “You know I’m a big fan of your ‘hit it and quit it’ style, but I’m talking about a relationship.”

“So I should be taking advice from a serial monogamer?” Lena asked with a smirk.

“At least I’ve been on a second date in the past decade,” Jack spat back before picking up his phone again. His best friend was great, but he knew he had hit a nerve. They weren’t in their twenties anymore—in fact, they were barely still in their thirties.

“Did you read that article in the Daily Planet last week? Fascinating.”

“We live in National City now, not Metropolis” Lena replied, but she kept her eyes focused on the buildings passing by outside. It was a poor excuse and Jack knew it. Of course Lena kept up with the papers in her hometown. How else would she learn all about the Luthor family drama?

“Apparently two thirds of women who say they’re too busy for a relationship are actually quite lonely.”

“Thank you for keeping me up to date on the inner-workings of the female mind.” Lena said with a sly smile.

“Anything for you, love.” Jack gave her a beaming smile and a wink just to make her laugh. Lena hated that he kept bringing this topic up like a dog with a good bone, but in the end she just couldn’t bring herself to be mad at him over anything. He was quite infuriating like that.

“I would be remiss not to mention the skin benefits.”

“Since when does the Daily Planet have a beauty section?”

“It was in the lifestyle section, actually.” Jack observed his reflection in the mirrored back of the driver’s divide and stroked his beard affectionately. “My skin is always better when I’m in a relationship.”

Lena chuckled beside him before planting a chaste kiss on his fuzzy cheek.

“Whatever you say.”

“I’m serious, Lena,” he insisted, “Look at my face, I’ve got blemishes for the first time since grad school. It’s a bit unnerving, to be honest.”

She just shook her head and resumed her people watching out the window. Jack was such a sweetheart it was almost disheartening to see him unmoored after so many failed relationships over the years. If a good guy like him couldn’t keep a relationship going, what chance did she have?

The car slowed to a stop outside a somewhat modest townhome near the center of town. Despite its modern design, the building seamlessly blended in to the historic buildings lining the row. The odd pair walked to the wide glass door where a young man in a department store button down and wrinkled khaki pants greeted them.

Lena tried to hide her smile as Jack gave the man a stern look-over. Her friend’s look settled on contempt after he clocked the gold band on the man’s finger. Lena knew that look and nudged Jack’s arm to keep him from saying anything. It wasn’t their place and they were technically undercover anyway.

“It’s an extraordinary townhouse,” the realtor recited, “with a total floor space of nine thousand square feet—not including the garden.”

“Has it been recently remodeled?” Jack asked as Lena nodded. She drifted away to snap a few pictures of the room while Jack held the man’s attention.

“Might I ask what you do?”

“I’m in the tech business,” Jack said, keeping with their rehearsed plan, “Just simple smart-home conversions and installations, that sort of deal.”

“And your wife?”

“She’s head of finance,” Jack waved off the man’s question, “Makes sure I don’t embezzle money for the most part.”

Lena glared at him as Mr. Khaki led them into the next room. She said to keep the attention off her, but he didn’t need to throw her under the bus. At least she wasn’t just the secretary this time.

“This view of the living room was recently featured in Sports Illustrated.”

“I thought they were more into the swimsuit gig.”

“Sara Lance designed the room herself,” the man said with his chest puffed out, “It’s capable of converting from a lounge and home theater space into a sparring ring with the flip of this switch.”

“Now that’s a smart house!” Jack said with false excitement. It’s not that it wasn’t interesting or impressive, but Lena knew for a fact that inventing the hydraulics for the floor alone cost him three nights without sleep. No wonder he hated the damned thing.

“What happened here?” Lena asked pointing to some scuff marks on the otherwise unblemished hardwood floor.

“Ahh, yes, Mrs. Lance has an amazing sculpture collection, but moved it when she listed the property. She’s more than willing to cover the cost of repairs if you’re worried about it.”

“A custom room conversion and a sculpture collection?” Jack asked, “That can’t be cheap. Do fighters really make that much to bash each other’s brains in?”

“Of course!” Mr. Khaki said, clearly offended by Jack’s insinuation. “Sara Lance is the UFC’s lightweight world champion. She made $3 million off her last bout alone.”

“That much? Oh my god,” Jack said. Lena turned back to snap a couple of last-minute pictures and stop herself from laughing out loud. She’s fairly certain his hydraulic floor invention had only made Spheerical Industries a million dollars at the most.

“If you’ll follow me upstairs to the master suite—”

“You know what, honey?” Lena asked sliding up to her friend’s side, “I don’t think this is the place for us.”

“Oh?” he replied.

“Yeah, it’s definitely more of a man cave situation.”

Jack nodded along and they showed themselves out with Mr. Khaki the realtor looking every bit like the college athlete washout he probably was.

“Do you even know what a man cave is?” Jack asked her.

They had left the house quickly after Lena’s comment and made a beeline for the best sushi restaurant in town. She had bribed him with the promise of lunch anywhere he wanted if he helped her get those photographs for her latest case.

“Not entirely, but I’m sure the young man knew what it was,” Lena said with a wave of her chopsticks, “Besides, I had everything I needed.”

“So what sort of dirt are we dealing with here?” Jack asked between mouthfuls of sashimi. “Cheating, drugs, bribery?”

“Art.”

Jack paused in his manic eating and tilted his head like a confused puppy.

“Art is not a crime, nor grounds for a divorce payout last time I checked.”

“And when was the last time you checked?” Lena said with a raised brow.

“No, this is good. I want to know what my next wife will use to get more money out of me.”

“Is this why you’re always tinkering in your lab?” Lena asked with sincerity, “Because this is exactly why I kept offering to litigate your divorces.”

“No, no,” Jack shook his in dismissal, “Money isn’t a problem and you know it. Besides, I’d rather pay them their ridiculous alimony than be lambasted all over the papers as the heartless guy who set them out on the street with nothing.”

“Are you forgetting that they sued you for divorce and not the other way around?”

“I have a selective memory.”

Jack resumed his eating while Lena took down some notes after looking at the photos on her phone once more.

“In the Sports Illustrated article, there’s a statue by Paige Conner next to the TV where the scratch marks were. And in the study, another sculpture titled ‘Inspiration’ used to be in the corner by the window. Look at her instagram post, March 24th. And then the real killer, ‘Conception in Bronze,’ which was a limited run and there are only three in the world.”

“Ahh, yes, now I see,” Jack said, but Lena knew he had completely lost the thread.

“She sold the art back to Paige Conner to avoid it being counted as part of the assets.”

“Why would the artist buy it back?”

“Well, normally they wouldn’t,” Lena admitted, “But if you’re having an affair with the artist they might be willing to do it to keep their priceless items off the market.”

Lena zoomed in on her tablet before showing it to him. Jack took the tablet from her and swiped through a few of the photos before nodding along with her conclusion.

“Well, all right then.” Jack said with finality. “Next time I’m getting divorced, I’ll make sure to send you on vacation first. You’re far too observant for your own good.”

“Sara Lance’s affair is going live and I will get millions off her.”

“But for someone else,” Jack said pointing a finger at her, “See, that’s the point I don’t get. Where’s the pleasure in that? I get the whole vengeful Luthor thing, but I still think you should’ve stayed on the engineering track with me.”

“The pleasure is in winning,” Lena said with a straight face, “but for the record, I would’ve kicked your ass in engineering school. Unfortunately, when your trust fund is being held hostage by an evil stepmother, you do what she says.”

“At least until you can sue her in court and hang your own shingle on the opposite side of the country.” Jack said, raising his glass for a toast.

“Indeed.”

They touched glasses and continued their lunch, with renewed vigor on Jack’s part. He was probably right; she should’ve fought harder to stay on track in the engineering program instead of caving to her mother’s demands and entering law school. She should’ve done a lot of things differently in the past, if she was being honest with herself.

She thought back to Jack’s comments in the car that morning. She didn’t feel lonely—at least, not in the traditional sense. She had her work at the law firm, her friends there, but… at the end of the day she was technically their boss. And Jack was a great friend, but even he couldn’t be there every time she needed someone. Finding women wasn’t the problem; it was more like she wouldn’t want to spend any daylight hours with the ones she occasionally took back to her apartment. Maybe she needed a cat or something.

The next morning she donned her best battle armor—a deep purple three-piece suit—and marched into her office. Jess greeted her with a cup of black coffee and the morning update on the firm’s other ongoing cases in the elevator. She trusted the young lawyers in her firm, but they were often thirsty for victory and their naiveté occasionally led to overlooking important details.

Lena blew through the office and confidently greeted her client in the safety of her corner office before informing the women of her findings the day before.

“That two-faced, spiteful bitch!” The woman cried.

“Nyssa,” Lena chastised, “You know I don’t like spouse bashing. This happens all the time. I mean, you even mentioned in our earlier conversations that she had a reputation for sleeping around before you met her.”

“Is this enough proof to dissolve the prenuptial agreement?”

“It’s unclear right now, but I’ve dealt with the opposing counsel in similar cases. He’s a good lawyer, but I know all his little tricks.”

Jess entered her office after a brief knock to slide a note on her desk with a worried brow.

“Thank you,” Lena said as she looked at the note. Sara Lance had changed counsel, but she had no idea who this new lawyer was.

“Is this bad?” the woman asked as she noticed the lawyer’s frustrated look.

“No, everything’s fine,” Lena reassured her, “Your wife has hired a new attorney, but I don’t know the name. Perhaps it’s an acquaintance from your time in Star City? Her name is Kara Danvers.”

“I’ve never heard of her.” The woman said with a worried expression.

“It says she’s new in town, so we still have the advantage.” Lena reassured her. “A new attorney this late in the game who has never practiced in National City? Please, this is going to be easier than I thought.”

She paged Jess to let her know they were heading to court before walking back through the office and down to the ground floor with Nyssa keeping pace in her thigh-high leather boots. Appearing confident, Lena learned early on, was one of the most important things when litigating a case.

They arrived at the courthouse early, as per usual and Lena politely excused herself to the ladies room to get a moment alone. She held it together just long enough to make sure the room was empty before locking the door behind her and frantically pacing along the stall doors.

“It’s fine, this is fine,” she whispered to herself in the mirror. “It’s not a problem. You’ve never lost one of these, everything’s all right.”

She stopped in her tracks and rushed over to dig in her purse. She was finally able to uncover an emergency pack of Oreo cookies, which she unceremoniously ripped open. Two cookies were gone in mere seconds before she sighed in relief. It was called comfort food for a reason she supposed.

“Okay,” she quickly wiped the crumbs from her face and swiftly exited the bathroom to an impatient looking Nyssa and Jess. “Ready?”

Lena led the trio into the empty courtroom and immediately slowed to a quiet stroll. She had been accustomed to being the first in the room and having a few moments of peace and quiet to set up and prepare for battle, but not today.

A disheveled woman sat completely passed out at the defendant’s table. Her long blonde hair shielded most of her face, but they could still hear her gentle snoring. Her tweed jacket had been thrown over the back of her chair and Lena grimaced at the horribly wrinkled shirt and scuffed oxfords. Jess got her attention and nodded at the bags piled up next to her. Did she come here straight from the airport?

“That’s my wife’s new attorney?” Nyssa asked with disdain, but Lena shushed her. It’s not like she hadn’t thought the exact same thing moments before, but she had grown tired of hearing the woman lend voice to every passing thought.

She walked over to the woman and gently coughed to get her attention, but the woman only snored in response. She tried again, but to no avail. Finally giving up, she used the cap of her pen to gently trace a line down the exposed flesh of her neck. The blonde moaned rather loudly, but thankfully others had started to occupy the space around them.

She hummed and moved the curtain of hair from her face as she wiped some sleep from her eyes and tried to focus on the brunette fidgeting before her.

“I’m Lena Luthor. I’m representing Nyssa al Ghul.”

“…Lena…Luthor?” the woman was clearly still trying to process the daylight streaming in through the windows, let alone try to process whatever Lena had said.

“Right, for Nyssa.”

“Mhmm,” she replied mid-stretch, “I’ve heard great things about you.”

She stood up and raised her arms high above her head in a full-body stretch. Lena was thankful the woman didn’t appear to notice the blush creeping up her cheeks. The blonde was tall, even compared to Lena in heels, but she was also clearly strong. The fabric of her cotton shirt stretched tightly across broad shoulders and toned arms as she stretched. Lena turned away and swallowed in a futile attempt to collect her thoughts.

“That felt nice, by the way.”

“Excuse me?” She had been caught off guard by the woman’s comment.

“The neck thing, whatever it was,” she clarified, “It felt nice.”

“Yes, well… I realize you’re just starting to familiarize yourself with the case,” Lena pressed on with the pleasantries, “but I wanted to make you aware of—what is it?”

The blonde had been staring at her face in deep thought as if trying to solve a great mystery.

“You’ve got a little,” she said and pointed to the corner of her mouth. Lena reached up immediately, mortified in the realization that she must have missed a few bits of cookie crumbs. She knew she should’ve checked in the mirror.

“Uh, thank you,” she managed after wiping at her cheek. “Anyway, as I was saying. It has come to our attention that certain assets—oh!”

Lena instinctively withdrew from the woman’s space as the blonde picked a crumb off the corner of her mouth and licked it from her finger.

“Oreo!” she said in excitement. “They’re one of my favorite cookies.”

“You have a favorite cookie?” Lena asked, completely side tracked from her original mission.

“I have several,” the blonde gave her a bright smile and Lena felt the full heat of it’s rays as her face blushed profusely. This was a very bad sign. She had woken up this morning adequately prepared to take on Roger Dalton and his insistent flirting, not a woman who was in essence a personification of the sun. Assets! That’s why she walked over in the first place.

“Some—some assets have, uh, not yet been… accounted for, and—”

“I don’t settle.” The blonde sat on the defendant’s table to be at eye level with Lena, sho merely laughed.

“I said nothing of settling.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine settling, but it’ll have to be for…” Lena cocked her head to the side as she observed the women silently count on her fingers like a small child. “$3 million.”

“You must be joking.” Lena replied with a sarcastic grin.

“It’s what I’ll earn from this trial—well, plus expenses. I think it’s a fair settling amount.”

“Only if you win.”

“Oh, I always win.” Kara replied as she got up and pulled her equally wrinkled jacket on. “But I figured I’d give you a chance.”

Lena turned on her heel and strode back to her side of the court with anger burning her cheeks.

“It’s Mrs. Luthor, right?”

“Miss.” Lena spat over her shoulder.

“My mistake…”

Lena seethed in her chair and focused her attention on preparing the materials before her in perfect order. She turned the papers one-quarter turn to the right so they would be easily accessible from either side of the table in the event the judge asked to see anything. Her pen and pencil sat neatly along the top of her files exactly one inch from the edge of the paper.

Jess subtly cleared her throat and Lena immediately stopped her movements. One glance to her secretary told her she had an audience and she turned to head to find Kara Danvers observing her with a soft smile on her face. As they locked eyes she gave Lena another bright smile and a cheesy thumbs up. Lena couldn’t wait to bury the poor woman under an avalanche of paperwork.

Luckily for the blonde, Sara Lance’s arrival prevented Lena from giving her a piece of her mind. The judge blew through the side entrance and everyone in the room jumped to attention. She was not known for taking her time or being polite to anyone who dared enter her domain.

“Please be seated and come to order.”

“Cat Grant,” Lena informed her client with a confidant smile, “Divorced four times. Horribly. She’s very tough on new lawyers.”

Judge Grant settled into her seat high atop the dais like a queen overseeing her miscreant subjects. Lena supposed she was at least partially correct considering this was divorce court.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Miss Danvers, as I live and breathe.” She said with the care and patience usually reserved for Lena alone.

“Good morning, Judge Grant.” Kara stood at attention before the icy judge.

“I told you the cold winters of Gotham were hard, especially on the skin.”

“Yes, Your Honor, but I made sure to moisturize as per your instructions.”

“Very good. Welcome back to the west coast, counselor.” Cat surveyed the courtroom to ensure there were no extra interlopers before proceeding with the case. Judge Grant was notorious for throwing observers out of her courtroom.

“I’ll hear opening arguments.” She said with a nod to Lena who promptly stood to address the court.

“Your Honor, I would like to move for a continuance. It has come to our attention that several discrepancies exist in the list of assets to be divided—namely, several works of art.”

“Uh, may I interject, Your Honor?” Kara’s voice rang out in the courtroom. She continued at Cat’s nod even if the judge gave her a lethal glare. “You’re referring to sculptures, I suppose?”

“Exactly.” Lena replied with a sour smile of her own.

“Art by Paige Conner?” Kara dug around in one of her smaller bags to find a few photos of the sculptures that had been missing from the townhouse.

“Actually, yes.” It was Lena’s turn to be caught off guard now and she did not enjoy the experience one bit. What had she missed?

“Let’s see here…” the woman flipped through a few photos before adding up the sculptures, “Looks like four or five sculptures by Paige Conner if my math is correct. Not really my thing—I prefer paintings—but these things are notoriously hard to come by from what I can tell.”

“Your Honor, we believe that these sculptures have been—”

“Anonymously donated to Star City’s Tactile Museum of Art?” Kara provided with a raised brow. “I’m surprised that Nyssa al Ghul didn’t mention it, Miss Luthor. See, her signature is on the donation document.”

Kara sauntered over to place a copy of the document neatly atop Lena’s immaculate pile of files. She smirked at Jess’ astonished expression before returning to her table. Lena took her seat to examine the document herself before side-eyeing her client.

“Oh, that reminds me, Your Honor, um, I’d also like ask for a continuance.” Kara said while rubbing the back of her neck and looking utterly sheepish. “I’ve just been retained as Sara Lance’s counsel, and I haven’t been able to fully research all aspects of the case.”

“Lack of planning on your part, Miss Danvers.”

“Agreed, Your Honor, but I do have just cause,” she reassured the steely judge who sat back with the hands in her lap. She had missed seeing the little blonde spitfire in the past decade or more. Gods, she was getting old.

“I have a receipt here… somewhere…” Lena watched, her mouth agape, as the blonde proceeded to pat her pockets and search through the haphazard stack of papers on her table. “Ah ha! Oh, uh, sorry about the drool, Your Honor.”

“Just bring it up here, Miss Danvers.” Cat said with an exaggerated eye roll. No matter how much time passed, Kara would always be the idealistic young woman she plucked out of her son’s newsroom.

“A six-month stay at the Daxamite rehab center for Nyssa al Ghul’s treatment of… oh, dear… heroin addiction.” Kara hazarded an embarrassed glance in Lena’s direction, but the brunette was too busy planning Nyssa’s untimely death that evening to notice. “I’d, uh, like to get to the bottom of that, You Honor.”

“Very well,” Cat said, handing the receipt copy back to her. “I’ll see you all in one week. Dismissed.”

Everyone hurried to their feet as Judge Grant rose and disappeared once more through the side door. Kara nodded to herself and began shoving piles of files and papers back into random bags. Lena deftly stacked her files and papers into a neat orderly stack in her briefcase before angrily strutting out the back of the courtroom. She needed a drink—or a few—and she needed to start being more selective about the clients she accepted.

She decided not to wait and ended up calling Jack as soon as she returned to her office with lunch.

“It’s not your fault that Nyssa al Ghul is a little off center.” Jack’s voice lamented through the office.

“I’d have found out about the art,” Lena lamented with pent-up frustration, “That’s why I asked for the continuance.”

“But didn’t that Danvers chick ask for a continuance?” Jack asked as a small explosion echoed through his end of the call.

“Do you need to go?” Lena stripped off her designed jacket and draped it gently over the back of her chair.

“No, no, they’re on it—Can I get a fire extinguisher over here?!” Jack left the call for a moment and Lena took the time to dig into her salad as she lazily flipped through the pages of her case files until he came back on the line. “Anyway, you got what you wanted. Why are you upset?”

“That Danvers woman beat me too it.” Jack’s laughter broke across the line as Lena glared at the phone.

“Don’t be like that now. She won the battle, go win the war.”

“I don’t know,” Lena mused. She took the phone off speaker and leaned back to look out the large windows to watch the city bustling outside. “I’ve never been up against someone like her. You know the world I work in—it’s all designer suits and no-nonsense, and overflowing with misguided confidence.”

“Are you describing yourself or other lawyers?”

“Very funny.” She turned back to angrily stab at her salad. “She’s very un-something. I can’t describe it. Maybe she’s just lucky.”

“Maybe it comes naturally to her,” he said, then after a beat added, “Is this Danvers girl cute?”

Lena nearly choked on her salad and managed to respond through a coughing fit. “I, uh, didn’t notice.”

“Bullshit.”

“She’s not your type, she already graduated college.”

“That’s not what I asked.” His teasing voice ghosted through the line.

Her response died on her lips as Jess rushed into her office to call “Channel four!” before disappearing just as fast as she appeared. Lena turned back to the small, wall-mounted TV in the back corner of her office.

The reporter on screen stood on the courthouse steps with people milling about in the background. She could tell it had been recorded earlier that morning just by the names and faces of those she knew entering and exiting the courthouse.

“…In court today, Judge Cat Grant heard opening arguments for the divorce case involving the World Champion MMA fighter Sara Lance and her wife Nyssa al Ghul. The two met…”

“Channel four, Jack.”

“I heard her,” he said. Lena heard the phone change to speaker as Jack dug around his workstation for the remote, “Whatever you pay that girl, you need to double it.”

Lena laughed at his ignorance. Jess had been with her since the beginning of her career and even followed her across the country when she left Metropolis. She had learned long ago that Jess was worth her weight in gold and had no problems paying her as such.

“…At stake is a reported $12 million. We caught up with Sara’s attorney, Kara Danvers, earlier today outside the courthouse.”

The blonde’s face suddenly filled the screen and she heard a large crash on Jack’s end of the line.

“You didn’t notice if she was cute? Are you kidding me?”

“Hush!” Lena chastised. Kara looked every bit as confident as she had standing before Judge Grant. She stood there next to Sara like they were pals heading out for a beer after work; jacket slung lazily over one shoulder and hand in her pocket.

“We do feel that Nyssa al Ghul’s monetary demands are outrageous.” Kara said with conviction, “After all, she may own the gym, but Sara’s the fighter bringing in the real money.”

“I can’t believe this girl,” Lena seethed, “I swear she flew into town this morning and she’s already got the media eating out the palm of her hand.”

“Speaking of eating out—”

“I’ll call you back.” Lena cut him off and set down the phone to focus on the interview.

“…Quite frankly, after this morning’s opening arguments, I believe the prenuptial will stand as agreed. Nyssa’s case doesn’t have a leg to stand on and, uh,” the blonde looked right into the camera as if she knew Lena would be watching and subtly wiped at the corner of her mouth just as she had earlier on Lena’s own face, “that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.”

She sat there, in her corner office, with her mouth hanging open at the blonde’s sheer audacity. Many have learned over the years not to test her patience, even fewer have had the nerve to challenge her directly in the courtroom. Kara Danvers didn’t know the danger she had just led herself into.

“Okay, Miss Danvers… I accept.”

Most people wouldn’t dare. Most people had at least heard the stories. Most people didn’t want to touch her with a ten-foot pole. Most people know better than to mess with a Luthor. She supposed Kara Danvers wasn’t like most people.


	2. Chapter 2

The offices of L-Corp resided on the 29th and 30th floors of an unnamed skyscraper on the wealthier side of downtown. It’s not that Lena was a snob or anything, but her clients were and they had become accustomed to a certain standard of luxury in the businesses they patronized. The décor followed strict monotones and only allowed the mere suggestion of color in a few works of art scattered here and there. Lena had often heard her law firm described as ‘surgically precise,’ which suited her just fine and did everything she could to perpetuate that reputation in the courtroom.

In contrast, the law office—singular—of Kara Danvers resembled more of a curio-cabinet. Every square inch of desk and shelf space had been covered by files, plants, or photos of friends and trinkets from her numerous travels. The room practically vomited pastels and vibrant color. But what more could you expect from a law office situated smack dab in the center of Little Italy and all the beautifully painted storefronts? In fact, it resided snugly above a pizzeria proclaiming the world’s best calzone.

“Why am I not surprised?” Lena said as she double-checked the address on her phone. This was certainly the right place.

She walked awkwardly through the bustling street, dodging food delivery bikes and incoming shipments of fresh produce. Lena could see the multi-colored lights strung across the streets reflecting the sun’s rays onto the street and sidewalks below. The door to the stairs required someone to buzz in, but a man carrying a case of wine held the door open for her. She ascended the steps berating herself for feeling so awkward in the space. It’s not like this was the first time she’d been in Little Italy, but it was the first time she was there for anything other than the food.

The second floor door stood slightly ajar, but Lena knew she was in the right place. A piece of paper ripped from a legal pad she been taped to the front with ‘Kara Danvers – Divorce Attorney’ written in bold sharpie.

“Miss Danvers?” Lena called into the room with a knock, “Hello?”

The door fell open with a gentle touch of her hand and Lena nearly had a full-fledged heart attack. There were piles everywhere—the floor, the desk, on top of filing cabinets—and that wasn’t including the sheer number of boxes piled high in every available space.

She carefully maneuvered around the stacks to stand in the middle of the room to take a closer look at the space. The number of photos in the room shocked her. There must’ve been hundreds of little memories displayed in the space. She smiled as she realized it wasn’t for show as the majority of the frames could be easily seen from the chair behind the desk.

She picked up a wooden frame from the right hand side of the desk. A large family had been gathered for a photo, but this was clearly a print of the ‘funny’ pose. Kara took pride of place with her fingers pulling her smile to its breaking point. At least 10 others gathered around her with equally ridiculous poses.

A tall woman with short-cropped auburn hair had turned her noes into a pig snout while another woman with long black hair licked the side of her face. A behemoth of a man with a shaved head stuck his tongue out with one arm wrapped around Kara. A motherly figure with blonde hair smiled with her eyes crossed while a couple with jet-black hair in the back had hand goggles. She felt herself smiling at the print and quickly put it down as if she had been burned.

“Thanks, Rasco!” Kara’s voice echoed through the staircase.

Lena jumped at the sound and knocked over a stack of files on the desk. She hastily picked them up and began to panic as the telltale sound of boots of wooden steps echoed through the building.

“If your new guy burns anymore pies, you know where to find me!”

Kara’s voice was close now. Lena had mere seconds before Kara turned the corner of the steps and saw her rooting through her office like some common criminal. The files would just have to accept their relocation to the floor.

Lena bolted from the office and managed to find an emergence exit three doors down, but she knew she had been caught. The moment she pushed open the door an alarm began to blare loudly behind her as she ran as fast as her high heels would allow.

Kara glanced down the hallway near her office just in time to see a blur of red and black fabric disappearing through the emergency exit. Her office door stood open and she set the two pizza boxes on her desk before glancing about to determine if anything was missing. A couple of piles had lost their balance and crashed to the floor, but other than that all seemed well. She shrugged and began picking up the mess with one hand while the other held a truly enormous slice of pepperoni. It wouldn’t hurt to check the nanny cam just in case.

The experience in Little Italy had rattled Lena’s convictions as she realized that she had blatantly trespassed on the woman’s property; at least the door was open so she had no reason to suspect she would be charged with breaking and entering. At best it would be classified as unlawful entry—Barnes v. Cage.

The weekend passed with little to no hiccups as she poured over every inch of Nyssa’s case files. It wouldn’t be the first time she had manipulated the facts to win a case for her client. After all, it was divorce court and with her clientele the only people getting hurt were the ones who decided to get a divorce in the first place. She shook her head at the thought of it; most of these celebrity cases could be avoided entirely if people were willing to talk to their partner… or, in Jack’s case, waiting longer than three months before tying the knot in the first place.

Jess sent her an invitation that evening to speak on a panel at Irvine Law. They needed a last minute replacement and, while she normally turned down most of these invitations, the department chair had personally written to her pleading her to take the space. By Monday evening she found herself seated alongside four high-profile divorce attorneys facing a lecture hall full of hopeful future lawyers.

“And very kindly stepping in that the last minute for Erin Sweets,” the professor announced from his place at the dais, “one of National City’s most successful attorneys. She was first in her class at Columbia and runs the city’s most premier firm, L-Corp. The one and only; Lena Luthor.”

Lena did her best to smile along with the audience applause, but nevertheless felt the anxiety pooling in her stomach. Most people thought she refused lecture offers because they were beneath her, but the truth of the matter was she couldn’t really handle speaking to the large crowd. She much preferred the faceless mob in court that could only glare at the back of her head.

She didn’t have long to wait for the crowd to die down as a large crash echoed through the hall. Kara Danvers stood, or rather knelt, in the doorway after her satchel had caught the doorknob and caused her to fall backwards into the door and eventually to the floor.

“Sorry!” She cried to the room, “Sorry, I’ll just—”

Lena watched with wide eyes as the woman quickly ran over to her table, but promptly tripped over her own feet and hit the deck as she was making her way on stage. She picked herself up and dusted off her dark jeans before taking her seat next to Lena with a sheepish grin. She looked every bit like one of the grad students in her checkered shirt and blue sweater.

“Small world, huh?” she whispered to Lena, who was still staring at her in a daze.

“And another counselor kind enough to walk in at the last possible moment,” the professor said with a chuckle and a glance in their general direction. “Some say she practices ordered chaos while others claim it’s madness…”

Kara smiled briefly and waved to the students before rummaging through her bag to uncover some notecards and what looked to be a slim tape recorder.

“She’s practiced in Gotham, Star City, and even clerked for a judge in Freeland. I would argue that practice makes perfect because she’s never lost a case. The great, but often late, Kara Danvers.”

Lena took advantage of the loud applause and asked, “Do you always look like a traveling salesman?”

“Uh-oh.” Kara turned to face her as she worked swiftly to restrain her golden locks in a hair tie. “Is there some sort of blood feud between our families that I don’t know about or are you flirting with me?”

“Well it’s not the second one.” Lena said between gritted teeth, but Kara simply looked at her with those big blue eyes.

“What was the second one again?”

Lena huffed and glanced to the professor continuing his opening statements before rounding on her neighbor.

“What are you doing here?” She asked in annoyance.

“Well, you could be a little grateful.” Kara said as she rested her head on her hand.

“For what?” Lena’s glare was having absolutely zero effect on the woman and she hated it.

“The professor, Clark Kent, is my cousin,” Kara informed her with a nod to the dais, “He needed a replacement after Erin got sick and asked me if I knew any entertaining or intriguing lawyers in town.”

Lena stared at the woman with her mouth agape and her face paling rapidly.

“I happen to think you’re quite… captivating.”

“You—”

“Mhmm.” Kara cut her off with raised brows and lifted her head to subtly point at Clark. Lena’s mind was working in overdrive trying to decipher the odd woman next sitting next to her.

“Now please welcome our first speaker—”

“I’m here because of you?!” Lena’s high-pitched whisper thankfully couldn’t be heard by anyone other than Kara, who clearly had no intention of explaining herself anytime soon.

“—Lena Luthor.”

“You’re up.” Kara said as she stood and stepped out to the way so Lena could walk up to the dais.

She grabbed the single sheet of paper that held her talking points and made her way confidently to the lectern. So long as she looked to the back wall of the room, she didn’t have to acknowledge the hundred pairs of eyes focused solely on her. Thankfully she didn’t need to mentally psyche herself up to remove the tremor in her voice as Kara’s sudden appearance had effectively activated the no-nonsense tone in her voice.

Her speech flowed easily from her lips without much thought—she rarely spoke to students so she simply used the same memorized speech she had crafted a year ago. Instead she took the time to take note of everything she had learned about the bothersome woman. She was overconfident to say the least, but it seemed to steam from self-assurance rather than false bravado. It was clear from the numerous photos in the office that she easily made friends wherever she went—a luxury that Lena would never be able to experience.

“…So my advice to you future lawyers is this; divorce doesn’t have to be full of misery,” Lena said as she wrapped up her speech, “Look at it as giving your client the second chance they deserve after having learned so much about the complex system we’ve come to know as the human relationship.”

Lena grabbed her sheet and quickly returned to her chair as the room thundered in applause before her. Kara stood back again to allow her to get by and congratulated her on the speech. The blonde pushed an open snack-sized packet of Oreos across the table to rest in front of Lena.

“Want a cookie?”

She turned to find Kara shoving another cookie in her mouth and chewing furiously when Clark began to announce her as the next speaker. Lena hated that she smiled at the woman’s wild attempts to get the crumbs off her face before she had to speak.

“Shoot,” Kara brushed the cookie remnants from her hands and started to rise from the table. “Do I have any crumbs?”

Lena numbly shook her head and laughed as she tripped yet again in her haste to reach the lectern. Flashcards scattered, but she deftly gathered them and recollected herself in record time.

“Hi! Good evening!” He bright voice echoed around the room. She leaned away from the microphone in an attempt to limit the volume. “That was a wonderful speech by Miss Luthor, can we give her another round of applause?”

The crowd hooped and hollered more like a sporting event than a room full of graduate level law students. Lena wrung her hands under the table and glued her eyes to the floor with a bashful smile until the applause died down around her.

“Unfortunately, I have to be brutally honest with you folks.” Kara began with a serious expression. She leaned against the lectern with such a carefree attitude that Lena briefly wondered if she were the dean of the college.

“Lawyers are scum… yeah, I said it. Now divorce lawyers, what you all want to become, well… we’re kind of like the gum you’d scrape off the bottom of your shoes. We make our living representing people who are too lazy to fight for someone they claim to have loved, am I right?”

A few bold souls called their agreement and a wave of nodding heads passed through the crowd. Lena watched carefully as the students gave their undivided attention to the woman as if she were some sort of savior. How do you possibly learn to command a room like that without resorting to underhanded tactics?

“They scream and yell in depositions or court, but where was that passion, that fighting spirit, when it was needed to save the marriage? You know what, never ask that. You won’t like the answers you get, believe me…”

Lena became enthralled in her speech, too. Her words held a depth to them that had Lena wondering what had caused her to feel this way in the first place. She noticed a subtle self-correction, a slight shake of the head that others might’ve missed, before Kara switched gears and began discussing the use of technology in the courtroom.

“But let’s talk about the fun side. I’m here for the techies, the nerds, the computer wizards, I see you out there. The way divorce is going these days you’ll certainty get to use a fair share of gadgets. Like this camera,” Kara held up the slim piece of metal that could easily be stashed on a shelf or desk without drawing attention, “which is motion activated and takes three shots per second. And check out the quality of the image.”

Kara pressed a button on the dais and a projector screen lit up the wall behind the panelists. Lena was still focused on her posture and subtle movements and didn’t bother looking at whatever dramatic effect Kara had decided to rely on.

“Amazing, right? I’m sure even you guys in the back can see the intricately colored pattern on our suspect’s skirt.”

Now that got her attention. Lena glanced to the screen and froze in a panic as she recognized the images flashing across the screen. It was her rooting around in Kara’s office from last week. There she was, blown up to fill the oversized screen as she picked up the framed photo and put it down with a soft smile. Then came her sudden turn and knocking a stack of files to the floor. Her awkward stance as she struggled to restack the files and keep one eye on the door, then her manic flight from the room. In a horrifying moment, Lena realized that she had worn the exact same skirt with a different top for this evening’s lecture.

“Now, I had a friend of mine stage these for tonight,” Kara locked eyes with Lena and gave her a little wink and a smirk before turning back to address the students, “but just imagine if this was some cheating husband or lying wife? Judges try their best to be impartial, but in the end they’re human like us, and an image like this is extremely hard to ignore. Just remember what I said earlier; there’s no love in divorce court.”

Kara nodded and thanked the crowd for their rowdy applause, but when she looked over with a wide smile for the brunette, she was nowhere to be found. Kara caught movement in the corner and watched as one of the doors closed silently behind the Luthor. Her smile dropped a fraction, but she recovered quickly when she returned to her seat at the table. Lena had taken the little package of cookies with her in the escape.

“I think you like her.” Jack said as he tinkered on the half-built device before him.

“Like her?!” Lena cried, walking around to stand on the opposite side of the workbench to face him head-on. “Are you even listening to me?”

“I can do two things at once,” he said looking over the top of his magnifying specs.

“She humiliated me in front of a hundred or so grad students—You know we pull most of our summer interns from Irvine.”

“I thought she told them you staged the pics.”

“That’s not the point.” Lena insisted as she resumed her tireless pacing around the shop. “I didn’t sleep a wink because of her. She’s driving me crazy!”

“I can tell,” Jack joked as he finished soldering, but threw his hands up at Lena’s glare. “Look, I’m on your side… whatever that means is this situation.”

“There is no situation.” Lena grumbled. She deflated a little and returned to the workbench to layout the next computer circuit as Jack striped wires. “I’ve got to find a way to get her guard down and destroy her.”

“You mean socially or…?”

“Very funny,” Lena narrowed her eyes at his insinuation.

“Just making sure your nature is still beating out your stepmother’s nurture.” He joked with a smile. “Don’t get in too deep with this girl—”

“Jack.” Lena warned. He really needed to work on his choice of phrasing.

“You’ve never lost a big case.”

“Neither has she,” Lena lamented as her hands stilled and fell back to the table. She studied her handy work and passed the circuit board back to Jack who began soldering again.

“So you’ve mentioned,” he said with a wink.

“Jack!”

“Look, there’s no need to worry,” he put down the hot iron and walked around to place his hands on Lena’s shoulders, “Our college agreement still stands. If you win; we drink. And if you lose…?”

Lena smiled with a sigh before answering, “we drink more.”

“Exactly,” he said bringing her into a bear hug. “Sorry about the lecture.”

She snapped to attention as the solution to all her problems presented itself. She knew exactly how to get Kara’s guard down and find her weaknesses.

“That’s it,” she told Jack, who stood there with raised brows, “I’ll apologize to her.”

“For breaking in?”

“The door was open.”

“What’s the plan, Luthor?” Jack chuckled and returned to his soldering work.

“It’ll be the last thing she’s expecting—especially the night before we’re due in court. It’s perfect. Apologies are just another manipulating tactic, like—like forgiveness, or generocity.”

“Your stepmother really did a number on you, didn’t she?”

“I’ll catch her off guard and once I know her weakness, I’ll exploit it in court—she’ll never know what hit her.”

“You’re a little scary when you’re planning someone’s downfall, you know that?”

Two hours later Lena arrived outside Kara’s door. She had Jess track down the woman’s home address and wasn’t surprised at all that she lived two floors above a dim sum restaurant, but poor Jess had triple checked her address in disbelief. In retrospect, she probably should’ve warned her assistant it would be above a restaurant.

She knocked and waited patiently as Kara’s voice called unintelligibly through the apartment before the door flew open. Her plan was clearly off to a terrible start and, had she been thinking coherently, she would’ve realized this was the moment to call off the whole thing. The blonde stood there in basketball shorts and a sports bra with beads of sweat clinging to her glowing skin.

“Uh, H—Hi, Hello.” Lena struggled to focus with Kara breathing heavily in the doorway. “I—I came to apologize.”

“Don’t you normally just pick the lock?” Kara said with a smile.

“The door was open.” Lena explained with an exaggerated eye roll. Why did no one believe her when she said that? “I just wanted to have a meeting. I’m apologizing for the confusion.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” Kara crossed her arms and Lena failed to suppress a gulp as the woman’s biceps flexed.

“I got you this.” Lena blocked her view with the gift bag she had brought.

“Oh, thank you,” Kara blushed profusely as she accepted the unexpected gift. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Perhaps you should try inviting me in.”

Kara smirked at her before opening the door further and stepping back and allowing her to enter. “Come on in.”

Lena saw the place wasn’t all that different from the state of her office. At least she had mostly unpacked here and everything had been organized into its proper place. She clocked a punching bag in the corner of the living room standing next to a small stand of weights. The kitchen dominated the space, taking up at least two-thirds of the apartment. A large bar positioned on the back of the professional-grade stove served as the only dining area. Kara took advantage of Lena’s blatant snooping to towel off a little before opening her gift.

“Oh, um… thanks, I think.” Kara said as she pulled a blue-on-blue polka dot shirt from the gift bag.

“It’s wrinkle proof.” Lena supplied.

“Ah ha.” Kara nodded in understanding. The brunette’s assumption that she never ironed her clothes was spot on. “You gave a great speech yesterday, by the way. You disappeared before I could really say anything. The ‘we’re all in this together’ guide to divorce.”

“I choose to take the high road,” Lena argued as she continued her walk around the room, “I prefer using logic, not theatrical gimmicks.”

“Okay…” Kara said with a curious tilt of the head. “Meeting sounds like a good idea, where are we going?”

“What?” Lena turned to find Kara had walked off the bedroom, but had left the sliding door open behind her. She watched the filtered light from the curtains highlight the strong muscles on her back as she changed into a regular bra. Lena’s mouth went dry quite suddenly and she quickly looked away before her body could betray her further.

“Let’s meet over dinner!” Kara called before emerging in a tank top buttoning up a dark navy shirt and green pants. “My treat, where’d you like to go?”

“Yes, of course,” Lena dug through the purse at her side before dialing Jess and putting the phone to her ear. Kara continued to button her shirt with an odd little smile on her face like the brunette was a particularly interesting puzzle she had yet to figure out.

“We can eat here,” she offered, “I make a great paella.”

Lena pursed her lips, but otherwise remained silent as she waited for Jess to pick up the line.

“Hello, Jess, would you book my table at the Lion Heart, please?”

“No, no, no, no,” Kara stopped her buttoning to grab the phone right out of Lena’s hand. “Cancel that, Jess. Goodbye.”

She hung up the phone and returned the device to an offended Lena.

“All right,” she said with a hint of malice, “What did you have in mind, Miss Danvers? Whatever it is it better have some vegan options.”

“Could you be any more fascinating?” Kara asked with a gentle laugh and a smile that would give most people a sunburn. “I think I have just the place.”

The place she had in mind was a traditional Greek restaurant less than three blocks from her apartment. The hostess led them to a table for two at the back of the restaurant, but still close enough to see the live band performing in the open courtyard. While Kara felt completely at ease at her local watering hole, Lena looked as though she might disappear again at any moment. At least the waitress had noticed Lena’s discomfort and provided them with the English version of the menu.

As soon as they were seated a young waitress walked up to their table with a shy smile reserved for the blonde. Lena wasn’t sure why she felt jealous, but she did her best to fix her eyes on the menu as Kara ordered some drinks for them.

“Duo ouzo, parakalo.”

“Pagos?”

“Nai.” Kara nodded and the waitress walked off with the order.

“You know Greek?” Lena asked.

“Just enough to order,” Kara admitted, “My office in Gotham was in the Greek neighborhood. I love this place.”

“I can tell,” Lena said with a smirk, “That poor college girl looked like she was about to jump you.”

“What, Lia? She’s got a girlfriend last I heard.” The blonde leaned in conspiratorially to whisper, “Her mother is still getting used to the idea, so she likes when I’m here with another woman.”

“This is not a date.” Lena insisted.

“I never said it was, you assumed.” Kara leaned back with a smile.

“So…” Lena decided a change of topic was absolutely necessary, “What was all that ‘fighting to save a marriage’ crap yesterday?”

“Don’t you ever feel like the evil villain in a story?”

“Actually, no, I don’t.”

“Oh, come on, haven’t you ever litigated a divorce you knew would’ve made it had they just swallowed their pride?”

“Every case I litigate convinces me further that marriage is a terrible institution that I don’t believe in.”

Kara crossed her legs under the table and took a sip of her water. “I see…”

“Do you, now?”

“Yes, I do.” Kara leaned against the table with her elbows. “Are you dating anyone?”

“You see a lot—am I dating anyone? What the hell kind of segue is that?”

“It’s a non-sequitur. I’m just curious. Also, I have a $20 bet with my sister that you aren’t.”

“You’re betting on my dating life?!” Lena exclaimed.

“Or lack there of…” Kara relaxed again as it became obvious that Lena wouldn’t answer the question truthfully.

“I’ll have you know, I go on plenty of dates.”

Kara didn’t answer, but raised her hands in mock defeat.

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“Do I believe that you could have any woman you walked up to? Yes, whole-heartedly and without a doubt. But I’m less convinced that you’ve been on a second date in the past…Eh, year or so. I just don’t get it—”

Lena blanched at her assumption, but managed to compose herself before the blonde noticed.

“Well, since you asked—”

“You’re smart—”

“What is dating anyway?”

“Objectively beautiful—”

“It’s practically trial marriage—”

“I’m having dinner with the most—Trial marriage?” Kara stopped her interruptions to look Lena directly in the eye. “I thought you said you didn’t believe in marriage?”

“And that’s why I don’t go on second dates.”

Kara smiled at the brunette before she could realize or correct her mistake. “Alex owes me $20.”

The silence hung between them like a dark cloud before Lena gathered the courage to break it.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Kara parroted back.

“Are you dating anyone?”

“You mean… other than tonight?” Kara said with a smug smile as Lena’s cheeks grew red.

“This is a meeting.”

“Whatever you say, Luthor.”

“My name is Lena.” She spat across the table. Kara nodded in understanding and filed that information away for later. Lena didn’t like her last name… at all.

“So this isn’t a date?” She asked.

“Correct.” Lena said before taking a drink of water. “A person’s first response is almost always the truth.”

“It’s what they truly feel.” Kara nodded along with the brunette’s logic. “Can we at least call it an intimate meeting? I mean, we are at a fairly romantic restaurant.”

“With vinyl protectors over the tablecloths?”

“Regardless, it’s very intimate.” The blonde said with a half-smile.

“Intimacy doesn’t change a thing.” Lena insisted. “Business is business.”

“Bullshit!” Kara decried her conclusion.

“It’s not! Your refusal to iron or wear a matching pair of socks does not give you any insight to the people you encounter. There are no psychoanalytical shortcuts that will get me into your bed.”

Kara sat back with wide eyes as Lena went off across from her, not noticing that the waitress had returned with their drinks.

“Duo ouzo…?” The waitress mumbled with an alarmed glance towards Kara. She gifted the young girl with a gleaming smile and she forgot all about Lena’s inappropriate outburst. Meanwhile, Lena herself was so irate that she didn’t bother acknowledging the girl at all.

“Efcharisto.” Kara said as she accepted the glasses of milky-white liquid.

“What in the—”

“You need to drink this,” Kara informed her. The glass looked like a worse version of skim milk. Almost as if it was milk mixed with water. Lena swirled the liquid in her glass with apprehension. “It’s a Greek liquor and there’s a toast that goes along with it. ‘To the gods of the sun and moon; odi et amo.’”

“Wait, that last bit was Latin.” Lena objected.

“I know, I means—”

“I hate and I love.”

“They’re not mutually exclusive.” Kara replied before toasting their glasses and downing the liquid. Lena followed suit and nearly gagged on the black liquorish flavor invading her mouth.

“What the hell was that?” She gasped.

“Greek liquor,” Kara provided with a cough of her own, “It’s clear, but turns milky when mixed with water.”

Lena gulped down water as Kara laughed at her facial expression. The waitress returned to take their order. Kara had a quick conversation with the waitress where she mentioned something like ‘fasting’ but Lena couldn’t really follow the broken Greek-English. The woman left soon after with their order as Lena continued with her water.

“Too strong?” Kara asked.

“Not at all,” Lena replied in defiance. “Let’s get another.”

“No, no, this is lethal stuff.”

“Mhmm…” Lena nodded along, but ordered another round once the waitress returned.

Their food arrived, but they barely touched it after so many shots of ouzo. Lena had removed her blazer, hanging it on the back of her chair, and sat in her red silk camisole. Kara hadn’t faired much better. She sat lounged back in her chair with her shirt unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

Lena laughed at the image of them sitting there closing down the little hole-in-the wall, but paused as thunder clashed outside. Her wide eyes met Kara’s as they realized what was about to happen.

“Uh-oh.” The blonde said. They were both plastered, but at least they would be able to make it home with Lena’s driver waiting around the corner.

“I didn’t bring an umbrella.” Lena uselessly contributed.

They closed out their tab and stumbled outside to the street as Lena struggled to text her driver.

“Is this right?” Lena asked, holding out her phone for Kara to check her spelling. She watched as the blonde’s eyes struggled and eventually failed to focus on the screen in front of her face. “Oh, never mind. You’re as drunk as I am.”

“Whooo!” Kara whistled as she stretched to see around the corner without venturing into the deluge. “Yeah… I’m a little drunk.”

“At least we’ll be equally hung over when we see Judge Grant tomorrow morning.”

“Mhmm. I can’t feel my face, can you?”

“Not really,” Lena realized as she prodded at her lips with the tips of her fingers. “My mouth has gone numb. I can’t feel anything.”

Kara leaned down to press her lips gently to Lena’s who breathed deeply, filling her lunges with the scent of rain and lavender. Her hands grasped at the blonde’s navy shirt as strong arms snaked around her waist, nearly lifting her off the ground.

“Well, I felt that,” Kara said, looking Lena deep in the eyes.

Lena pulled herself together quickly as the black sedan pulled up next to them on the sidewalk. It took only a few pointless moments of arguing with herself before she pulled Kara close to her and stepped into the car bound for the woman's messy apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

Dappled sunlight fell gently through the stained glass windows and nudged Lena to the land of the living. She rolled over and stretched like a cat straining to find the perfect combination of cool sheets and warm sun.

Her back arched as she remembered the lingering touch of fingers ghosting down her spine. She smiled into her pillow, letting her mind linger on the fleeting memories of strong arms on her hips and thick golden locks tangled in her finger.

A deep breath filled her chest with the smell of orange blossoms and the scent of bergamot rising from the streets below. This was definitely not her penthouse overlooking the tech corridor.

She sat up in alarm as the night’s events came rushing back in full force. The dinner, waiting outside in the rain—that kiss, coming back to Kara’s place and…oh no. She lifted the covers with trepidation knowing she wouldn’t like what she found. Yup, naked as the day she was born.

“Oh my gods, what have I done?” She whispered to herself as she massaged her temples.

“I made coffee!” It was the only warning Lena received before Kara opened the sliding door with a steaming cup of coffee and a warm bagel. She set them gently on the nightstand before rushing into the closet at the back of the room in a thin robe.

“Don't worry, it's vegan. We’ve got one hour before court,” her voice echoed from the tiny room, “I put what I could in the dryer, but most of our clothes were still wet.”

Lena groaned and downed the aspirin on the nightstand before boldly walking to the living room with nothing but a cup of coffee to keep her warm. Kara did her best to focus on getting the tags off her new shirt, but still managed to steal a glance at the brunette’s retreating form. It was definitely a sight she could get used to.

Lena’s adventures in the living room were somewhat less confident. She managed to find her underwear, but her silk camisole was mysteriously exempt from the dryer and the pile of damp clothes.

“I’m gonna get ready in the bathroom!” Kara called from the closet, “Feel free to raid my closet if your clothes are still wet.”

Lena grumbled as the bathroom door snapped shut and forced herself to at least try her damp skirt and blazer. They should've been dry enough after sitting out all night, but she couldn’t stand the damp, smelly fabric clinging to her skin.

“All right,” she decided before marching back to the closet, “Let’s see what you’ve got, Kara Danvers.”

The walk-in was just as colorful as Lena expected it to be and completely unorganized. Pastel sundresses mingled between gaudy sweaters and thick tweed. She searched to find any article of clothing in the black or grey end of the color spectrum. Her only options appeared to be a dusty leather jacket, plaid slacks, and her choice of a black or grey button-up shirts with mysterious stains on the front.

“Black and plaid it is then.” Lena sighed in frustration as she began to suit up.

“Did I do anything last night I might regret?” She called to the frosted bathroom door.

“I hope not.” Kara responded.

Lena did her best to get Kara’s shirt to fit her, but nothing could be done about the sleeve length or her lack of broad shoulders. She rolled up the sleeves and hoped for the best. At least the pants fit well and they wouldn’t look too long in her heels from last night.

“At least we’ll both look like hell.” Lena grumbled to her reflection in the full-length mirror. She grabbed a hair tie from the dresser and did her best to tame her mild waves into a strict bun.

“There’s a new toothbrush in there for you,” Kara mentioned as she opened the bathroom door.

“Oh, come on!” Lena deflated immediately. The blonde was dressed to impress; matching brown belt and polished leather shoes complemented the royal blue of her slacks and the sparkling new shirt Lena had gifted her only yesterday. She looked like she had walked straight out of a magazine with her stylish glasses and low ponytail framing her face.

“What’s wrong?” Kara asked with puppy eyes.

“You are so infuriating, you know that?” Lena objected as she gestured to, well, all of her.

“Well, you always say I look like an unmade bed. I thought you might like it—the shirt fits well.”

“You better be ready to leave as soon as I’m finished brushing my teeth.” Lena snapped before stomping through to the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

“But… what about breakfast?” Kara mumbled as she left to forage in the kitchen for something to eat before the angry woman emerged from the bathroom.

Lena decided that Jess had just earned herself yet another bonus when she didn’t bat an eye at her boss’ awkward appearance in court. She even managed to subtly check her for price tags before realizing they were someone else’s clothes. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together and she couldn’t quite hide her smile, but that could be forgiven.

“$12 million dollars, Your Honor.” Lena emphasized after an hour or so of debate, “And yet she’s trying to force my client into the straight jacket of a stingy prenuptial which we have shown is clearly suspect. As owner of the gym and personal trainer to Sara Lance in the earliest days of her career, Nyssa al Ghul is clearly entitled to half the assets and a continuing percentage of her earnings in MMA.”

“So this is entirely about the money?” Kara commented from the defendant’s desk.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss Luthor, but are you suggesting that because Sara Lance’s skill in the ring is so profitable, your client is entitled to more than what was agreed upon in the prenup?” Kara asked as she walked to stand within arms length of the fuming woman. “Because that was not your position last night.”

Lena managed to limit her reaction to wide eyes and promptly invaded the blonde’s personal space.

“I’m speaking about a couple who in their most intimate moments, when it was just them—and only them—in the gym, taught her wife everything she knows,” Lena ignored Nyssa choking on a sip of water and mentally kicked herself for her phrasing, “Every punch, kick, and take-down designed by my client specifically for yours and subsequently used to catapult her career into the spotlight.”

“Oh, what did you say last night, it was perfect...” Kara rushed back to grab something from her bag on the desk before returning to her place next to the brunette. Lena’s face paled considerably as she recognized the carefully folded item in the blonde’s hand. It was her silk camisole; she recognized the lace trim, despite Kara’s careful folding, with something scrolled across it in black sharpie.

“What’d I write here… Intimacy doesn’t change a thing. Business is business.”

“How dare you!” Lena as she reached for her defiled garment, but Kara snatched it away just in time as the judge sounded the gavel to get their attention.

“Okay! Okay!” Cat yelled with impatience from her position on the stand. “I’m done with this. They signed a prenuptial agreement that no one has proven to be flawed in anyway. The document holds and assets shall be divided accordingly. Whatever the hell you two have going on, take it outside.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Lena and Kara responded, both chastised enough to sport sheepish and embarrassed looks.

Kara packed up faster than usual in a futile attempt to catch Lena before she left the courthouse. She rushed outside, but instead of running into her she was swarmed by reporters trying to get an interview about the case.

“Uh, yeah, it was a great success,” she blundered on as she strained to find the woman in the crown of people on the steps. “I think it worked out best for all parties involved and, uh—please excuse me.”

She recognized Lena’s sedan pull around the corner and raced to intercept her. “Lena! Lena, wait—Shit!”

She made it to the pair of stern women just before tripping on the last step and skidding to a halt against the side of the town car.

“Just let me explain, please. Just, just give me a minute to talk.”

Jess entered the car at Lena’s nod. The pair stood toe to toe on the sidewalk; Lena looking like she might suddenly shoot heat rays from her eyes, and Kara looking all to willing to accept whatever punishment was headed her way.

“Counselor, you appear to have dropped your morals in one of your many accidents.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara nodded, “And you’re absolutely right.”

“I hope you’re prepared to reap what you sow.”

“I know. Look, I was assigned to the case because I know Sara—and Nyssa for that matter. Personally.”

“So you sleep with everyone you—”

“Not like that. This stays between us, but Nyssa has a thing for Sara’s sister, always has. And Sara… she’s a great friend, but she also tends to sleep with anything that has a pulse.”

“If this is all true, why didn’t you just tell me?” Lena asked with severe skepticism.

“Honestly?” Kara asked as the shorter woman nodded, “I might’ve gotten a little distracted—”

Lena rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“No, really. After opening arguments, I knew you were gunning for a win and I wanted to see if you were really as good as the papers claimed—and they're wrong: you’re terrifying.”

“You knew you couldn’t beat me in a fair fight so you stooped to cheap theatrics? Is that how you won all your cases?”

“No, this is a first for me, unfortunately.” Kara said nervously rubbing the back of her neck.

“Save your little sob story for them,” Lena said tilting her dead to the crowd of reporters interviewing Sara Lance. “You owe me an apology.”

“Like your apology last night?” Kara argued. Now here, here she was on firmer ground and her posture reflected it as she stood to her full height.

“I was going to bury you in there, so I thought I’d drop by to soften you up. You know, find your weaknesses.” Lena sneered at her in defiance, “I let you seduce me and planned to use your overconfidence to my advantage.”

“Wait, you let me seduce you? You _let_ me?” Kara repeated with that patented crooked smile. “That wasn’t even a date according to you.”

“Aww, are you wounded, Miss Danvers?” Lena said sweetly while her eyes maintained their piercing glare, “Your bravado and little tricks don’t work on everyone.”

“Hey, now. There’s no need to ruin last night just because you’re a sore loser.”

“Ruin what? A drunken one-night stand?”

“I was mostly referring to dinner, but—”

“You need to toughen up if you’re planning on staying in town. Sleeping with the enemy is all part and parcel here.” Lena interrupted. She stepped to within a hair’s breadth of the woman and smiled menacingly at the blonde’s sudden intake of breath before reaching into her pocket to retrieve her camisole. “No souvenirs for you, Danvers.”

Kara held her breath and watched as Lena abruptly entered the car. She stood there watching the sedan disappear into the crowded streets of National City before realizing she hadn’t moved at all. This was bad, very bad. She glanced around before retrieving her phone and calling her sister.

“Alex? Yeah, can you meet me for lunch? …I think need some advice.”

Lena dropped Jess off at the office with strict orders that she take the rest of the day off before continuing straight to Spheerical Industries so Jack could make good on his promises of drowning her sorrows in copious amounts of alcohol. With that in mind, attending the launch of a new sports fashion line is not exactly what she had in mind.

“So… sleeping with the enemy is how you maintain that winning streak?” Jack said, trying to contain his laughter in the crowded factory store. “Is it true that Felix has a foot fetish?”

“Oh my god, this is not what you promised me.” Lena complained as she grabbed another glass of wine off a passing server. Jack may be a world-class mechanical engineer, but he was always searching for his next bit of inspiration. Recently his idol was a fashion upstart who specialized in cutting edge athletic wear.

“I know, but it’ll be over soon, I promise.” Jack reassured her. “You never did explain whose clothes you were wearing when you showed up at my office.”

“I need to have those burned.”

“Lena, look at me.” Jack said, grabbing the elbows of her crossed arms and leaning back to meet her eyes. “I know Lillian is certifiable, but you’ve got to start admitting when you’re attracted to someone. It’s not healthy to keep everyone at arm’s length.”

“I do not like her. How could I? Do you know what she did in court—”

“Yes, because you told me twice already.” Jack let go of his friend and dragged a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“I swear, Lena,” he said with a chuckle as the lights flickered to announce the start of the show, “one of these days—probably years from now the way you’re going—you’ll wake up with a ring on your finger and massive smile on your face.”

“I’m not attracted to her.” Lena mumbled to herself as the lights dimmed and the runway lit up before them. She turned to Jack as he swung a comforting arm around her shoulders. “What she did was low even by my standards.”

“This is divorce court we’re talking about,” he said with a chuckle.

Jack’s face lit up as the first models walked down the runway. Lena was used to the most obscene fashion designs at these things, but all of these designs looked remarkably plain. She turned to her friend in confusion as he frantically took down pages of notes.

“What am I missing here?”

“It’s nanotechnology!” Jack whispered excitedly. “Well, almost. They’re individual nodules of material that function collectively—just watch, this is the cool bit.”

Lena did as instructed and returned her attention to the stage as a man in loose joggers and a flowing shirt stood at the end of the runway. He tapped his collarbone and the fabric morphed into a skin-tight bodysuit. That was certainly unexpected.

“Who is this and why are they wasting their talents on designer athleisure?”

“It’s Winn Schott,” her friend replied as another model changed their Olympic swimsuit into a sleek, but stylish tracksuit. “He’s trying to get a hook in the summer Olympics with his gymnastic line. He hasn’t honed the technology completely, but he’s getting dangerously close to becoming the world’s leading expert on nano technology.”

“I’ve never heard of him.” Lena breathed as a women walked by in a stunning shimmering, color-changing gown.

“Sure you have. He’s married to Mike Matthews.” He continued at Lena’s blank expression, “Last year’s Superbowl MVP—The quarterback of the National City Seagulls. Really?”

“I’m not sporty spice, Jack.”

“He just signed a $30 million dollar contract for the season.”

“Sara Lance gets $3 million for beating up people and this Mike guy gets $30 million for throwing a ball, unbelievable.”

“I couldn’t give a damn so long as the NFL keeps funding Slingschott Enterprises.”

“No one would guess that you’re straight.” Lena chuckled and downed what little remained of her white wine. A tall blonde model walked down the runway in sporting boxing gloves that morphed into bangles. She couldn't stop the memories of Kara answering the door with a flushed face and beads of sweat trailing down her toned abs.

A week later and Lena’s life had almost returned to normal despite the loss of her perfect winning streak. She sat at the office nibbling on some Swedish Fish as a talk show droned on in the background. The sound of Kara’s laughter cut through her train of thought and she grabbed the remote to turn the volume up.

“Well, actually Sara Lance gave me a couple pointers so I guess we’ll see.” Kara joked on the screen.

“I guess we will,” the affable host agreed, “Come on, Danvers, let’s see those guns.”

The pair laughed and Kara threw her hair over one shoulder to show off her right bicep.

“Bam!” the man cried, “Welcome to the gun show!”

Kara melted into a fit of giggles and immediately put her arm back down. Lena’s mind flashed back to the feeling of those arms under her own fingers, feeling the strength in them as the blonde moved above her.

“Now speaking of a show,” the man’s voice cut through her memories, “Your courtroom tussle with counselor Lena Luthor has become quite the talk of the town in legal circles.”

“I have no doubt that Miss Luthor was the highlight of those talks even before I came along.” Kara argued. “She’s certainly the finest attorney I’ve ever met. I can only hope to be as clever as she is someday.”

“Now that's interesting.” Lena mused as the blonde fidgeted with hem of her yellow sundress as she answered.

“She’s—I don’t know, she’s just a wonderful person to be around…even if we were throwing punches in the courtroom.”

“Was that good practice for your charity match?” The host joked.

“Charity match?” Lena asked the TV.

“We’ll have to wait and see. I’m quite nervous to step back into the ring after so many years,” Kara said with a nervous expression, “Boxing is quite different from this MMA stuff.”

“Boxing? She cooks, she boxes—what, does she write books as well?!”

They met again, formally, during the horrible Kate Kane divorce. Lena had to buy another bottle of scotch just to make it through the trial without ending every night of research crying on Jack’s couch. It was always like that when an otherwise happy couple was cleaved by circumstances alone. Even Kara was less chipper than usual and when Lena suggested they litigate as much as possible outside the courtroom, she was all too eager to agree.

This led to quite a number of awkward meetings at L-Corp with Jess sitting by her side trying to melt into the wallpaper. The women filing for divorce seemed less effected than their attorneys, which made it all the more heart wrenching. Kara had been so distraught that she missed the co-signatures on the mortgage and Lena leveraged it to her advantage, managing to ensure her client left court with sole ownership.

That evening Kara sat on the counter of her apartment shoveling a third order of soup dumplings into her mouth as the news played in the background.

“We’re here at National City’s biggest divorce trial since Sara Lance’s last month, the case of real estate tycoon, Kate Kane and her wife Sophie Moore. What would’ve been an easy split was hampered by a relocation of Moore’s company, Crows Security, to National City.”

“I hate Gotham so much right now I could vomit.” Kara sighed into her plate of dumplings.

“The trial has two of the city’s top divorce pit bulls, Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers, against each other once again—Wait, I just got word they’re heading out.”

The cameraman ran to keep up with the news anchor who joined the swarm of reporters congregating around Lena and Kate Kane.

“Kate, how does it feel to have the verdict go your way?”

“It feels like ass, you chicken shit!” Kara yelled at the screen.

She had worked with them during her short time in Gotham. She was genuinely upset when Sophie called her asking to litigate her divorce; they only decide to split when it became clear that Kate would not even consider leaving her hometown. Truth be told, she might’ve been a little too invested in the couple to do her client justice. She would need to call Sophie next week to make sure she was doing okay with the relocation.

“I’m lucky to have the best lawyer in National City fighting for me during this difficult time.”

“Miss Luthor,” a reporter called from the back, “in a case that’s had to reveal so much personal information, you’ve really been commended by the community on your above-board tactics.”

“Divorce, like marriage, is one of the most personal life decisions you can make.” Lena responded. “And just like a large wedding, a divorce that goes to trial ends up being portrayed more as a show. It takes hard work, hours of research burning the midnight oil—working with all parties to ensure the best outcome.”

“That’s good,” Kara nodded along as she gave up on the chopsticks and picked up a few dumplings with her fingers, “Very classy, Miss Luthor. Very classy indeed.”


	4. Chapter 4

The weeks blurred into months as their clashes continued despite Judge Grant’s best efforts to keep them under control.

**Whitford v. Whitford**

“Objection, Your Honor,” Lena called out as Kara spun around at the sudden interruption. “Counsel is, as usual, making assumptions.”

“So this is an assumption now?” She challenged, “It’s a photo of your client with her tongue down the valet’s throat!”

“Objection overruled, Miss Luthor,” Cat called from the stand, “Tread lightly, Miss Danvers.”

Lena sat back in her chair and silently fumed as Jess handed her the note Kara had sent over before closing arguments began. ‘Breakfast? 9AM’ had been hastily scrawled on the bright pink sticky note.

She glared at the offensive slip of paper and hastily crumpled it into a ball, ignoring Kara’s heavy sigh as she returned to find what remained of the note.

**Moss v. Moss**

“Opposing counsel is clearly kidding herself—” Kara shouted as Lena lifter her brow in a silent challenge.

“Irrelevant, Miss Danvers.” Cat corrected from the stand, “Keep your outbursts to the barest of minimums or I will throw you out of my courtroom.”

Kara sunk into her chair and crossed her arms with a pout that made Lena chuckle before she turned back to finishing address the judge.

When Kara rose to take her place in front of the judge, Jess gave her a sheepish half-smile as handed over a snack sized pack of Fritos. Lena wait just long enough for Judge Grant to exit the courtroom before throwing them at the back of Kara’s head.

**Janney v. Busfield**

“We have full-length videos of his adultery!” Kara cried as she held up several illicit videos. “Available for the low, low price of $9.99.”

“Videotapes are inadmissible in court, Miss Danvers,” Judge Grant said lazily with her head in her hand.

“Please,” Lena argued, “as if my client would appear in such a low-budget pornography. Those tapes are worth at least $29.99 a piece.”

“Speaking from experience, counselor?” Kara quipped back.

Judge Grant groaned as she sounded the gavel numerous times in a languid manner as the growing crowed jeered and snickered behind the railing.

**Harmon v. Harmon**

“There’s no room for argument, Your Honor.” Kara said with a blatant wink to the brunette.

“Objection, Your Honor,” Lena exclaimed, “Counsel is badgering!”

Cat sounded the gavel and pleaded with any and all gods she knew to end her suffering. These two were getting completely out of hand and the media attention was doing nothing to stem the tide of conspicuous observers in the back of her courtroom.

**Smits v. Polo**

“Motion denied, Miss Luthor!” Cat shouted from her seat. “No, don’t you even think of objecting.”

“Your Honor, I—” Kara began before the judge cut her off.

“And you, Miss Danvers, are one step away from being thrown in contempt!”

Kara sat down with a huff as Lena walked stealthily past her desk. The brunette dropped a king’s chess piece on the desk as she passed with a devilish grin. ‘Checkmate’ Kara thought in annoyance as she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars for her client.

**Channing v. Channing**

That morning Lena had arrived in court to find a fresh cup of coffee waiting for her with a sticky note on the top reading ‘Mountain to Mohammad.’

She glared daggers at the irritable woman hastily making notes on her stack of papers before catching Jess’ giggle next to her.

“Sorry,” Jess whispered in explanation, “I didn’t think she’d be bold enough to actually do it.”

“What are you talking about,” Lena asked as she examined the contents of the cup as if trying to decide if it had been poisoned.

“She called the office last night asking for your coffee order…” she replied with downcast eyes.

“And you gave it to her?” Lena asked while struggling to keep her voice down.

“She can be very persuasive,” Jess said with a bright smile and a wave to the blonde who had turned her attention to them.

**McCormak v. Malina**

Cat Grant had waited long enough. Her courtroom had effectively been turned into a three-ring circus as she reached the end of her patience with the two women. The courtroom was packed with loud and obnoxious lookie-loos. Today alone had been a disaster as Kara Danvers had jumped on a desk and Lena Luthor’s argumentative lynchpin was the blonde’s lack of owning an iron.

Cat watched in quiet fury as they bickered before her about their collective intolerance for alcohol. Time to end this nonsense.

“Bailiff!” She called as the lawyers ignored her shouting and the sound of the gavel, “Contempt of court! Both of them!”

The women immediately stopped their shouting match as the officers placed strong hands on their shoulders. Lena had the decency to at least look ashamed of her actions, but Kara gave the small man such a look that he immediately removed his hand and took a step back.

“If I wanted to sit through a shouting match every day I wouldn’t have gotten divorced! Your bail is set at a measly $100, but you’re not allowed to pay it until after lunch. I didn’t raise two stubborn brats just to have grown adults fighting like kindergartners in my courtroom. Have I made my point clear?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Kara and Lena echoed as they walked silently to the holding cell out the back door of the room.

Lena angrily paced the full length of the cell while Kara tossed her jacket on a bench before stretching out.

“I cannot believe I let you goad me into this.” Lena fumed as her heels continued their steady rhythm. “I’ve never—ever—been held in contempt.”

“Really?” Kara asked as she cracked one eye to look at her, “It’s really not that bad.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lena said, throwing her hands up in defeat.

“I’m a passionate person.” Kara argued as she moved to find a better position on the wooden bench.

“I’ve noticed.” Lena quipped.

“I’m surprised you remember,” she replied, “we were pretty drunk after all…”

Lena stilled her movements and rounded on the woman with her smug look. As much as she hated to admit it, that night had stayed with her for the better part of these past three months.

“Look,” Kara said, rising to a seated position before Lena could formulate a response. “I got the message—if you want me to leave you alone, I will. But for the record, I think you should give me a real shot.”

“You had your shot and blew it,” Lena argued with crossed arms.

“You don’t mean that.” she replied.

“I do.” Lena insisted as she stood to her full height, taking full advantage of their height difference. “We could’ve had a simple meeting and gone from there, but—”

“We let our emotions get the best of us?” the blonde supplied.

“Maybe you did,” Lena scoffed, “I was in complete control.”

“Hmm, whatever you say, Miss Luthor.” Kara said with raised brows as she resumed her lounging position.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked. She knew the woman had something up her sleeve, Kara Danvers didn’t give up that easily, but for the life of her, she didn’t know what it might be.

“Nothing, just that… well, I guess my tolerance for alcohol actually is higher because I'm apparently remembering a lot more than you about that night.”

Lena’s cheeks flushed bright red at her words. In the back recesses of her mind she had prayed that it was only a deranged fantasy her brain had concocted after months of torment and pent-up frustrations.

“There we go,” Kara said with a knowing smile. She stood up and playfully pointed out a circle as she indicated Lena’s face. “This Lena—or the one you’re remembering, anyway—I’d really like to hang out with her again.”

Lena slapped the offensive hand away as she stared her down. She knew that stance, knew that look, and wanted nothing more than to forget everything about what happened that night, but her memories had different ideas.

She knew how those strong arms felt wrapped around her, knew the feel of those lips ghosting down her neck, knew how those fingers could make her back arch and her breathing hitch.

She knew all this because she also knew exactly what buttons to push to turn the defiant woman before her into a puddle. She glanced down Kara's form as she remembered goose bumps raising along her arms with a single touch, abdominal muscles tensing and flexing under her lips, and shaking legs as the blonde called out her name above her.

“Have dinner with me,” Kara implored with labored breath, their proximity was clearly having an affect on her as well, “For real this time.”

“I have plans.” Lena deferred.

“I didn’t say when.”

“I meant this weekend.”

“What about—”

Kara stopped abruptly as she heard a cough from beyond the bars. They turned and jumped apart as Jess waved to them and motioned the officer to unlock the holding cell.

“Congratulations, you’ve both made bail.” Jess said with a smile as they exited the cell.

Kara sent Jess the funds as soon as she had retrieved her phone from the guard, but Lena didn’t stick around to let the blonde finish arguing her case. She left the company car for Jess and hailed a taxi to Spheerical Industries as soon as she left the courthouse.

When Jack’s secretary pointed her to the fourth floor office instead of the basement workshop, Lena was surprised to say the least, but that didn’t compare to the surprise at her firned’s appearance. He smiled at her reflection in the mirror as he combed his hair back while she took in his jeans, sneakers, blazer, and…football jersey?

“You’re coming?!” Jack turned to her with wide eyes as Lena stepped back in alarm. Who was this man and what had he done to her friend? “I always send an email to Jess about the games, but I thought she deleted them! Lena, this is so exciting! You’re first football game!”

“What are you on about?”

“There’s a Seagulls exhibition game tonight.” He deflated when he realized Lena had no idea what he was talking about. “I have VIP season passes, but you never respond to my emails—or Jess doesn’t mention them.”

Lena’s eyes widened in abrupt understanding. Two years ago she had been litigating a particularly difficult case when Jack had started sending her nearly weekly invitations to some sporting event. She had asked Jess not to bother her with any more invitations. He had kept sending them for two years without a single acknowledgement from her about their existence.

“She didn’t mention anything, but I’d love to go if you still have a seat for me.” She said, feeling the heavy weight of guilt. She made a mental note to revisit non-work related communications with her assistant in the future. Jack ran over and scooped her into a bone-crushing hug as he started planning their evening of frivolity and pre-game tasks.

Lena’s guilt only lasted so long as the stadium was packed and her friend insisted on partaking in the pre-game revelry with the hoi polloi. By the time they had gone shopping for Lena’s jersey, dinner at a local pub, and drinks with the masses, Lena all but fell into the comfortable chair in the VIP box right on the 50-yard-line. She had no idea how she would make it through the next three-hours, but she’d be damned if she ruined the beaming smile on her best friend’s face.

A quiet laugh broke through her reprieve as she glanced around the other VIP ticket holders milling about to find who she was looking for. After a decade of working with her, she’d know that laugh anywhere. Sure enough, Jess stood in the corner with a beer in her hand and a wide smile on her face. She was trying to keep her laughter to a minimum as her companion with long blonde hair kept commenting on the players far below them. Wait… she knew that hair.

“Kara Danvers?” She heard the words escape before she could stop herself and the blonde turned to face her as if she had been slapped. She rose from her seat and moved to stand next to the pair as they picked at the remnants of a plate of nachos between them.

“Hey, Lena.” Kara said as Jess panicked and tried to make herself as small as possible.

“Annoying me isn’t enough? Now you have to harass my assistant?”

“Whoa, whoa, we’re just here for the game.” Kara insisted as Lena looked to Jess for confirmation.

“I, uh… Go Seagulls!” she said before fleeing to the safety of Jack’s side.

“What the hell, Kara?”

“First of all; Jess is straight, so don’t get any ideas.” she continued at Lena’s glare, “Second; my sister works security and gave me tickets.”

“And wh—”

“Well, it’s not like you were gonna go with me so I asked Jess. She’s a huge fan of the Seagulls and—oh my god, you didn’t know.” Kara smirked as she noticed the blood rushing from Lena’s face.

“Of course I knew.”

“Yeah, right. Like you knew she had been trying to get VIP season passes for the past year?”

“Fine, all right? I didn’t know” Lena spat as she walked to the bar for another glass of wine.

“For what it’s worth, this isn’t my cup of tea either.”

“Then why even bother.”

“Are you asking as the world-class attorney or the woman who loves zucchini pancakes?”

“The first one—both—whatever.”

“I can tell she’s important to you.” Kara said with a shrug.

“So you’re gonna try and butter her up to get to me? It won’t work.” Lena chastised.

“Actually, it’s already paid off in spades. Why didn’t you tell me you liked Indian food?”

“Just because we spent one drunken night together does not mean we’re dating.”

“Agreed.”

“They why do you keep trying to get a second date out of this?” Lena whispered in exasperation.

“I thought it wasn’t a date.” Kara replied with renewed confidence.

“It wasn’t.”

She walked away with an excuse to get some fresh air and found herself wandering the deserted concrete halls of the stadium as the crowd thundered from the stands above her. A service worker tinkering in a supply closet caught her attention.

The man was fairly young and appeared to be crying if the wet patched on his jumpsuit were anything to go off. Lena watched as he angrily yanked wires from an impressive circuit board before attaching a small laptop to the panel. He sniffled as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

“Hello?” She said to the young man; he couldn’t have been more than 30, maybe 35 at the most. “Hey, are you all right?”

“He’s such a dick,” the man replied without looking up from his computer. “He fucks anything that walks.”

Lena watched as the man pulled out a packet of tissues and blew his nose before continuing with his work. He looked at her briefly and searched for a name tag before redoubling his efforts on the computer.

“You don’t work here, do you?” Lena asked.

“Gonna call security on me?” The man asked her with his chin raised in defiance.

“Depends. Are you planning on physically harming anyone?”

“No,” he chuckled and blew his nose again, “Just psychologically.”

“This is about a guy?” Lena ventured, crouching in her tight black jeans to get closer to the man sitting on the floor.

He nodded and wiped his eyes before responding, the computer all but forgotten in his lap.

“My husband. He’s cheating on me—again. I swear to god, I am this close to divorcing him.”

“This is a habit of his then?” At the man’s nod, Lena continued, “And he knows how badly it hurts you?”

The man burst into renewed sobs and dug through his pockets to find another pack of tissues.

“Look, you’re very young. Relationships take a lot of work. I’m not saying divorce isn’t the answer, but I _do_ think it should be a last resort. If he’s as young as you, he’s probably still trying to figure out who he is—just like you, okay?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” the man said between sniffles, “Did you get a divorce?”

Lena laughed, “No, but I’m a divorce lawyer so I have a lot of experience.”

“You’re wearing his jersey.” The man said with a disgusted look. Lena glanced down to the jersey Jack had bought for her before the game.

“Mike Matthews is your husband?”

“Unfortunately.”

“So you must be—”

“Winslow Schott.” He held out his hand for Lena to shake.

“Let me give you my card just in case,” she said.

They parted ways and, after numerous reassurances on Winn’s part that he wasn’t going to physically harm anyone, Lena returned to the VIP box. She settled in next to Jack and stealthily watched Jess explain the nuances of the game to Kara at the opposite end of the box. The blonde caught her watching and flashed a beaming smile before the room went deadly silent and then burst into chaos.

Jack’s boisterous laughter beside her caused her to look at the jumbotron suspended in the middle of the field. Instead of showing highlights of the first half of the game, it displayed a grainy video of the star quarterback’s butt. As he walked away from the camera, the entire stadium was subjected to the nearly naked form of the Seagull’s tight end as Mike leaned down for a kiss in the middle of their locker room. Things got rather heated from there, but someone managed to stop Winn’s hack before anything truly explicit happened.

Lena chuckled at the young man’s revenge before glancing around the VIP box to see her friends’ reaction. Jess had spat out her beer in shock and Jack was having trouble breathing from laughter. Kara’s reaction puzzled her exceedingly.

The blonde was neither shocked nor entertained by what had passed on the screen before them. Lena watched as the woman’s face distorted in pain and it looked like she might cry as she excused herself from Jess and made a beeline for the exit while dialing her phone. That was certainly something new and interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

“Here’s to your new client,” Jack toasted. The morning after the football disaster, Lena received a secure call from Winn on her private line wanting to set up a meeting to discuss his impending divorce. She didn’t even want to know how he managed get her personal cell phone number.

“He didn’t officially hire me yet,” Lena dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “And no, you will not be invited to the brunch meeting.”

Jack placed his hand over his heart as if she had shot him, but otherwise seemed to accept her conditions. Their waiter brought over their salads and returned a moment later with two shots of ouzo and two glasses of ice.

“Complements of the lady at the bar,” he said as he placed the drinks before them.

“Thank you,” Lena said with a smirk as she looked around the large room to catch a glimpse of Kara at the bar across the large dining area. She raised her own glass of ouzo in a toast as Lena matched her motions with a soft smile. Maybe she should reconsider her moratorium on the blonde.

“What’s ouzo?” Jack asked as he took a tentative sniff of the shot glass. Lena laughed at his puzzled look and poured her shot into the glass of ice and swirled it around to get the milky-white beverage she was familiar with.

“It’s a Greek liquor. It turns opaque when it mixes with water.”

“Amazing,” Jack said as he followed her lead. “Oh my god.”

Lena snapped her head up as Jack practically dropped his fork as he recognized a man passing near their table.

Lena looked up just in time to see a mopey Winn Schott sit heavily at the bar next to Kara. The man put his head on her shoulder and Lena’s mouth fell open as the blonde gave him an awkward hug from her own barstool.

“It’ll be okay, buddy,” Kara reassured him.

Lena and Jack tried to continue their meal as if nothing happened, but between Jack’s less-than-stealthy glances at the computer genius and Lena’s confusion over the pair’s meeting, their conversation ground to a halt.

“Be right back,” Lena told Jack a few minutes after she noticed Kara heading to the bathroom. She entered to find the blonde washing her hands next to a very startled redhead. One glance at the lethal woman and she quickly exited the bathroom before Lena locked the door behind her.

“I don’t think this counter will hold us,” Kara said as she finished drying off her hands.

“Read the room, Danvers,” Lena said in exasperation, “Not exactly the vibe I was going for.”

“Look, I saw you were celebrating with your friend and wanted to chip in. That’s all.” Kara said with her hands on her hips. Despite her best efforts, Lena couldn’t help but bite her lip as she took in Kara’s slim trousers and sharp waistcoat.

“So if you’re not here to jump my bones…?” Kara prompted with a knowing smirk.

“I hear Winn Schott’s getting a divorce?”

“Fuck!” Kara said as she slammed her fist into the sink counter. She watched Lena’s steady approach through the wall-length mirror as she tried to prepare for damage control.

“I was hoping to keep it out of the papers for as long as possible.” She rubbed her hands down her face in despair and tried to pull herself together. “God, he trusted me to keep it quiet and I already ruined it.”

“No, I know about it because I thought he was going to hire me to represent him.” Lena said with her head cocked to the side in confusion.

“What?” Kara asked as she turned to face her.

“I met him at the game while he was hacking into the jumbotron feed, I gave him my card and he called for a meeting. Did you steal him just to spite me? Hmm? Another valiant attempt to get under my skin?”

“Whoa, slow down,” Kara said in alarm. “Winn and I went to college together, we’re close friends.”

“That’s bullshit, he’s not even 30 years old.”

“And just how old do you think I am?” Kara asked with narrowed eyes.

“Well, apparently you’re a hell of a lot younger than I am!” Lena said in sudden realization.

“You can’t possibly be older than 35,” Kara reassured her, but paused as Lena’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, “Okay, yeah, I guess I have no clue how old you are. Does that really matter right now?”

“It doesn’t, but now I have to seriously re-evaluate the last few months.”

“I’m 32 for the record—”

“Kara!” Lena held up her hand to stop the blonde from speaking as her mind struggled to return to her original purpose, “I’m here about Winn.”

“Right,” Kara nodded as she tried to summarize the last few days in as little words a possible. “I called Winn after the jumbotron incident and went over to his place to try and console him. I don’t know what he told you, but this is kind of a reoccurring thing in their relationship. Mike cheats, Winn gets upset, Mike apologizes, Winn forgives him, Mike stays true for a few months, rinse and repeat.”

“That’s the impression I got as well.”

“Well, this time Winn moved out and told me he was planning to get a divorce. I told him I’d be happy to help… He came to me, Lena.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That’s your problem, then,” Kara sighed as she leaned her back against the counter next to the brunette. “I don’t lie, I would never lie to you.”

“Winn and I had a meeting set up the morning after the jumbotron incident. That’s tantamount to stealing my client in my view.”

“Wasn’t my intention and he never mentioned talking to you.” Kara shook her head as Lena pinched the bridge of her nose, “Can I say something else?”

At Lena’s lack of response she took a step closer and reached out a hand to gently raise the brunette’s chin to meet her gaze.

“This whole, ‘hating everything I do’ act was fun and all, but It’s not sustainable and you know it.” She dropped her hand and Lena stood taller to take advantage of every inch of height afforded by her heels. “If you were willing to give this a chance, give us a chance… you might discover that we can get along quite swimmingly without all the drama.”

Kara stayed for another moment to memorize as much of Lena’s face as she could before brushing past her and exiting the bathroom as if nothing had happened between them. Lena remained, glaring at her traitorous reflection in the bathroom mirror before taking a slow, calming breath.

Jack didn’t even bat an eye when Lena returned from the bathroom and informed him of their imminent departure. His driver brought them straight to the Seagull’s stadium and Lena jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop despite Jack’s warnings.

“Lena, maybe take a moment to think this through,” he called as he rushed to keep up with her.

“All’s fair in love and war, Jack.”

“Yeah? Which is this; love or war?” He nearly crashed into her as Lena came to a sudden stop and turned to jab a finger painfully into his chest.

“I’m not sure why you think you have the expertise to lecture me on either.”

Jack stood with his hands raised in surrender before pointing his chin to the sudden appearance of Lena’s target at the entrance of the stadium. Mike Matthews was absolutely swarmed with a horde of young men and women vying for an autograph or a picture.

Lena turned back around and marched to the crowd with defiance radiating around her. Jack tucked his hands into his pockets and watched his friend withdraw further into herself with a worried look on his face. This was getting out of hand.

“Hello, there,” Mike said to a woman as she held out a sharpie for him to sign her low-cut shirt. “I see you’re a super fan,” he praised a young man who flashed the waistband of his Seagull's thong for the star to sign.

Lena didn’t need to push or even nudge people out of her way as everyone fled from her general vicinity in quiet unease. Thankful for her menacing heels, Lena slowed her approach with her eyes targeted on the poor excuse of a man in front of her.

“And what’s your name?” Mike asked as he signed some girl’s lace bra. He posed for a selfie with another woman before the crowd fell silent around him. He turned to see what everyone was looking at and found Lena Luthor with a devilish smile on her face.

“Wow,” he said with a low whistle, “What can I do for you?”

“I would like a moment alone, actually.” The star’s thick-necked bodyguards stealthy closed in around him. “Your muscle can stay and watch.”

“Oh, I’ve got all the muscle you’ll need.” Mike waved her over and their small group passed through the double doors that safely separated them from the drooling mob.

“As you were saying?” Lena winced as the man invaded her personal space. He smelled potently of aftershave and cologne.

“Let me start from the top, Mr. Matthews,” Lena said as she managed to look down her nose at the 6-foot giant before her. “You got married early on, before the stardom hit, and now you prefer warming strangers’ beds instead of your husband’s. He’s a sweet guy and loves you dearly, but he just can’t take the lying and cheating anymore. He moves out, changes the locks, and sues you for divorce. That’s the story your husband is preparing to hand over to the press and turn you into the laughing stock of the NFL. Sound familiar?”

“Uh, yeah, I mean… yes.” Mike bowed his head and Lena almost felt bad for the young man struggling to keep it together before her. He clearly had no idea how to handle the fame and fortune of his own design as an adult. She briefly wondered if he had known anything besides football since his teenage years.

“I’m sorry, that was harsh. But you have to know it’s only going to get worse from here.”

“Can we maybe continue this conversation at my apartment?” Mike asked with pleading eyes.

“Not on your life. The optics of that would be the final nail in your coffin and I need something to work with if I’m going to have a chance of winning this case for you.”

“You’re a lawyer?” Mike said as fear crossed his face.

“Yes, Mr. Matthews.” Lena reached into her bag to pull out a business card to hand over. “Your husband hired a friend to litigate his side, but she also happens to be one of the best lawyers in National City. You need someone on the same level to tell your side of this seedy drama—no matter how distasteful it may be—and make you look like the nice mid-western boy you are.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mike said with an impish grin as he watched Lena walk back into the fray.

Jack met her outside the crowd with a disappointed look on his face, but didn’t dare say a word the entire ride back. Lena nervously fidgeted with the hem of her skirt as the car maneuvered through the streets. There were perhaps a handful of times Jack had gone silent on her like that, but he would only try to push her so far before giving up. She hoped just this once that he would be the one with egg on his face while she gloated in triumph.

The initial meeting with the four of them locked in a room went about as well as anyone could have expected.

Kara glared daggers at Lena for the first half-hour before her ire shifted to Mike. Winn had clearly gotten over the grief stage and was firmly in rage mode. Kara had to swipe his phone to prevent him from hacking anyone else’s technology after he remotely accessed his husband’s phone and wiped it of all data. Mike kept threatening to sleep with various men and women that she had never heard of, but each name seemed like it hit a nerve with Kara and Winn. At least Lena herself was able to keep a cool head.

“Or what? You’ll punish me?!” Mike shouted at his husband from the opposite end of L-Corp’s longest conference table. “You forget who wears the pants in this relationship, babe.”

“It’s me! You’d prefer no pants and walking around with your dick flopping in the breeze!” Winn cried as his hands slammed down on the table.

“Hey, I only do that at the house.” Mike said, pointing a menacing finger at him. “It’s called community service.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! I’m the one who actually does any community service!”

“Sit down, Mike,” Lena ordered with no room for negotiation in her voice. Mike hesitated for a fraction of a second before settling heavily back into his seat. “The purpose of this meeting is to avoid—”

“So you’ll listen to her, but not to your own husband?!” Winn shouted at Mike. “You don't even have a chance with her—she’s a lesbian!”

“Winn, that’s enough!” Kara snapped at her friend as Lena’s face turned as hard as stone at the man’s outburst. She gave Lena an exasperated look and a half-smile of an apology. “We just need to get a reasonable list of high-priority assets agreed upon so we can—”

“He doesn’t have any assets! Who do you think pays for all his little outfits.”

“My technology is the reason you’re still on the field after your surgery, you little chode!”

Mike didn’t even flinch before tipping the entire conference table on its side and heading straight for Winn—who looked equally ready to duke it out. Luckily Kara’s reflexes were just as quick as she grabbed the back of Winn’s collar and pulled him to the floor before punching Mike square in the jaw, causing him to back up several steps. Everyone froze as Lena’s voice cut through the chaos.

“That is quite enough! From all of you!” Lena gave Kara a pointed look.

While she appreciated the woman's quick action, it didn’t really diffuse the situation at all. She massaged her brow in frustration as the guys helped Kara put the table back into position.

“I think I have enough to work with,” Kara mumbled, her eyes still locked on Mike as she flexed her hand.

“Fine,” Lena sighed, “Mike, sit your ass in that chair and don’t move until I come back.”

“Bottom boy.” Winn snarled at him.

“Shut the fuck up, Winn.” Kara clapped back as she shoved her client through the door and into the hallway. Jess met them with three bags of ice and quietly led them through the office and into a waiting taxi. Lena returned to the conference room where Mike sat holding an ice pack to his face.

“God, I forgot how hard that girl’s fists are.” He checked his cheek and nose for any possible blood as Lena pulled up her chair next to the man.

“I don’t even want to know,” she pulled out the official records of the men’s assets, but Mike beat her to it.

“He can have everything.” Mike said with his fingers tracing lazily over the wood pattern on the table. “I’ll sign whatever you want, but I only want our house in Mapleville.”

“Are you sure?” Lena asked as she paused in her notes. “There’s quite a lot listed here.”

“I’ve already lost the only thing that matters.” Mike said taking a deep breath. “It’s my fault. He’s always deserved better than me… Are we done here?”

Lena looked at the broken man sitting next to her and tried desperately not to see herself in his heavy shoulders and defeated expression.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Lena placed a hand on his arm, but the man shrugged it off and walked out the door.

She watched him apologize to Jess for the numerous disruptions and smiled as he handed her a laminated season pass he had hidden in his jacket pocket. She had mentioned her assistant’s love of the team in passing at their first meeting, and even then it was only brief comment to reassure him she truly had no stake in future of his football career.

She sighed and slowly began to pack up her things before returning to her corner office. Judging by Winn’s outbursts and Mike’s unintentional admission, she knew there was a good guy in there. If only the world hadn’t chewed him up and spat him back out in his steady rise from prom king to NFL’s player of the year.

Across town, Kara was having similar success speaking to Winn alone in her tiny, yet cluttered office. Winn held the pack of ice to the back of his head as Kara wrapped an ace bandage around her hand to secure her own ice pack in place and began leafing through the pages of assets.

“Gotta help me out here, man,” she told him, “I don’t even know what half this stuff is.”

“It’s probably items from my lab,” he informed her, “but I make enough money on my own, I can buy more equipment or get funding from anyone in the tech corridor.”

“So what do you want, then?”

“The house in Mapleville.”

“Winn…” Kara reached for his hand across the desk and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Is that really healthy?”

Winn nodded with tears in his eyes, “It’s the one place where he wasn’t a celebrity, just Mikey.”

“God, I hate this.” Kara huffed as she palmed the tears from her cheeks before squaring her shoulders and making a note of the house on the file. “Are you staying with James tonight?”

“Yeah, at the guest house.” Winn got up and threw his messenger bag over his shoulder as Kara walked him to the door.

“We’ll get you through this. Lena’s a good person, I’m sure she took the case to help.”

Winn nodded solemnly and she watched him disappear down the steps. Her friend had been through so much already and watching Mike throw insults at him like he didn’t care about his feelings at all was too much for her to take. She was lucky that Mike started it today because she was already moments away from dragging little shit to the parking garage and beating the crap out of him.

The sound of her cell phone ringing caught her attention and she rushed back inside the office.

“Hello?”

“I need a drink.” Lena’s voice sighed through the line.

“You and me both,” Kara joked as she dragged her uninjured hand through her hair.

“No, Kara… let me rephrase this; take me out for a drink.”

“Like a date?” Kara asked with raised brows. This was certainly the last thing she expected after their disastrous meeting.

“Yes,” Lena chuckled, “like a date.”

“Really?” She tried to contain the excitement in her voice, but Lena’s soft laughter on the other end of the line told her she had failed. “Like, an actual date? Not a work meeting where we happen to be eating dinner, right?”

“I’m hanging up now, Kara.”

She heard the click of the line going dead, but was still too shocked to move. Her emotions were in full crisis mode as they whirled from empathetic loss to pure joy and perhaps even a slimmer of panic. Her phone crashed to the desk as she jumped and threw her hands up in victory.

She grabbed her phone again and dialed the one person she knew would help seal the deal for her. The only person in the world who would know exactly where to take the woman of her dreams and make sure she didn’t put her foot in her mouth. Alex had taught her well over the years, but now it was time to consult an expert in the field.

“Hey, Jess… Where’s Lena’s favorite place to eat?”


	6. Chapter 6

When Lena walked out of the elevator she nearly forgot how to breathe. She didn’t know exactly what she was expecting, but Kara Danvers in a sleek black dress with a jewel neckline that showed off her chiseled shoulders and arms was certainly not it. The blonde tucked her loose hair behind one ear and readjusted her glasses as she spoke animatedly to Jess. She had hesitated that afternoon when Jess suddenly delivered a dress to her office, but now she had fully entered panic mode.

Jess paused in their conversation and turned to the elevator as she caught Lena’s figure in the corner of her eye. Kara followed her line of sight and immediately felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Lena was absolutely stunning in her navy sweetheart dress. She gulped as she shamelessly allowed her eyes to take in every inch of the woman walking towards her.

“Wow.” It was only intelligible the blonde could force her mouth to say.

“I didn’t know you owned anything without a stain on it.”

“And she’s back,” Kara said with a raised brow. “That was a little quick for the claws to come out, don’t you think?”

Lena scoffed and promptly walked out of the building and into her waiting sedan with Kara trailing behind her like a giddy puppy. When she heard Jess give the blonde a quiet ‘good luck’ she immediately regretted her moment of weakness calling Kara that afternoon.

As the car pulled out onto the busy street, Lena assumed they were headed to a high-class French or Italian restaurant. When the driver turned onto the road adjacent to Little Italy, she momentarily panicked thinking Kara had gotten them all dolled up for one of her little hole-in-the-wall places. The driver pulled over and Lena immediately knew she had been parent trapped by her assistant.

Aigawa was the premier restaurant for authentic sushi on this side of the pacific. The large dining room was sectioned into individual hubs with a sushi master creating works of art behind a bar in each unit while dinners enjoyed their meal right in front of the master or at a small alcove for more privacy. The host recognized Lena immediately and their waiter led them to her usual booth in a quieter hub.

“Uh, I hope this is okay…” Kara glanced nervously around the room as she tried to find a comfortable position in her seat. “I know you said vegan, but Jess assured me this was your favorite.”

“It’s my guilty pleasure,” Lena smiled at the blonde as she fidgeted in her seat. Oh how the tables had turned. Kara might be the queen of Bohemia, but this was Lena’s world and she ruled with an iron fist. “So, Mike said something interesting today after you left.”

“Nope, that’s work related.” Kara said with a pointed look. “If we’re gonna talk shop, we’ll need a lot more alcohol and a lot less clothing.”

Lena almost chocked on her sip of water, but recovered quickly. “He said you’ve hit him before?”

“Maybe,” Kara’s cheeks turned bright red. “This is the path you’ve chose to go down? Really?”

“I’m curious.”

“Don’t most dates start with light conversation and getting to know each other before veering into ex’s?”

“He’s an ex?” Lena said with wide eyes. That’s was the last thing she was expecting to come out of Kara’s mouth.

“When was the last time you went on a real date?” She leaned across the table and searched Lena’s face for an answer.

“Probably when I was your age,” Lena said with narrowed eyes. “Mike?”

“Fine.” The blonde said with finality. This dinner was already off the rails. “Mike and I dated for a month in college before I met Winn and discovered I was the ‘other woman.’ Long story short; we fought and Winn and I have been friends ever since.”

“Mhmm… So a pre-law student with a penchant for fistfights.”

“I was a journalism major,” Kara explained, “I took a summer internship at a newspaper and Judge Grant—her son owns the paper—sort of bribed me to switch tracks.”

“So you didn’t want to be a lawyer at all and somehow ended up as a divorce lawyer which, as you so eloquently put it, are the scum of the earth?”

“Look, I know it’s been like, three years since you’ve been on a date—”

“Six.”

“But you’ve got to stop interrogating me. Wait, six years?!”

“I’m 38.” She mumbled as the waiter dropped off two plates to their table. Kara’s head had tilted in confusion, and Lena decided to take advantage of the distraction to steer her away from the age gap. “You don’t order here. The chef makes whatever he wants and sends it over.”

“What if I don’t like it?” She asked in a conspiratorial whisper as she glanced over to the older man working calmly behind the bar.

Lena laughed at her reaction and picked up her chopsticks before asking, “Have you ever had sushi?”

“Not like this…” She replied while examining the plate before her.

“I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about,” Lena assured her with a smile that only grew larger at Kara’s hesitance. “I’ve never met anyone who plans their entire life around food quite like you do. Just remember not to dip the rice into the sauce.”

“…okay.”

She watched Lena dip the piece upside down into the soy sauce before placing the entire little morsel in her mouth. She copied her movements to the best of her ability and felt her taste buds light up at the combination of unique flavors. Lena’s head shot up with eyes the size of dinner plates as the blonde let out an ethereal moan.

“Holy fuck.” Kara said, completely forgetting that they were in the middle of a high-class restaurant. Lena looked around in a panic, but everyone had already returned to their own conversations aside from the sushi master whose shoulders were shaking as he tried to contain his quiet laughter.

“Kara!” Lena hissed, but the woman only waved her off with her chopsticks.

“That’s way better than the stuff in Midvale,” Lena rested her forehead in her palm as the blonde rambled on about grocery store sushi from the Midwest and finished her plate. She couldn’t take this woman anywhere without causing a scene.

“I swear it almost tastes better than—”

“Kara Danvers, if you want to finish this date with your limbs attached, you will not finish that sentence.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said with a smirk. “Tell me about L-Corp.”

“I own a highly successful law firm, what about it?”

“I didn’t know you _owned_ the firm.”

“What did you think the ‘L’ in L-Corp stood for?”

“You can be very intimidating, you know that?”

Lena was pleasantly surprised that their dinner went as well as it did, aside from a few hiccups here and there. Kara was quite adept at making her laugh and erasing any false starts between them. Even the elderly sushi master was having a great time as he sent over increasingly elaborate dishes and was rewarded each time with Kara’s over-the-top praise.

“How did you learn Greek?”

“Oh, um, I-I told you. I lived in the Greek village in Gotham.” Lena narrowed her eyes as Kara nodded in an effort to convince her own mind that she had spoken the truth. She judged the blonde’s evasiveness and dove in for the kill.

“Tell me about her.”

“What?” Kara squeaked, “Her who?”

“Hmm, she must’ve been really special.” Lena was having too much fun as she watched the woman shift uncomfortably before her.

“She, uh, was—is, she’s the DA in Gotham… Diana Prince.”

“You dated Diana Prince?” Lena’s jaw hit the floor as the blonde squirmed in front of her.

“Uh, not exactly.” She had never seen Kara’s face so red, even her ears were changing color. “This isn’t exactly a conversation to have in public.”

“Well now I have to know,” Lena subtly moved the water glasses away from the blonde. She knew Kara was accident prone when she was nervous and this was the most unhinged she had even seen the woman. “Normally you don’t give a damn about being appropriate in public.”

“Right, okay, so we went to the same gym in Gotham.” Kara adjusted her glasses, “And, you know, both of us were getting over someone and… yeah, take it from there, ha.”

“So you had an arrangement…” Lena prompted with a sly look in her eye. She loved setting the blonde on edge, but hadn’t yet managed the feat while they were both sober and fully clothed.

“Yeah, uh, you know how it goes,” Kara shrugged and faked a laugh, “I was young and naive and she was—well, not—and, uh, yeah.”

“Oh my god.” Lena’s face lit up as she connected the dots in her mind. “Are you saying—?”

“Yes. Whatever you’re thinking, I’m gonna go with yes.”

“She taught yo—”

“Now I know you’re just messing with me.”

“But it’s so much fun.”

“I’m leaving.”

Lena smirked before leaning in to whisper across the table, “So that thing you did with—”

“Hey, let’s get this one thing straight before I drop the topic forever.” Lena nodded earnestly and waited with bated breath. “That was all me.”

“Interesting.” Lena sat back in her chair as Kara tried to collect herself after their little incident. “So you cook?”

True to her word, the brunette didn’t revisit the topic of ex-girlfriends again and was actually surprised at Kara’s honest answers to her questions. She even caught herself giving away tidbits about her life in Metropolis that Jack didn’t know about. When Kara stiffly talked about the fire that killed her parents and moving to live with the Danvers family, Lena held her hand and promptly threw her stepmother under the bus just to get the blonde to smile again.

It shocked her to discover they had so much in common, truly two sides of the same coin when she thought about it. She was even more alarmed by how much she already knew about the woman from their various meetings over the past few months. It took but a moment or two to pick up on her little gestures and the emotion behind it. She knew Kara must have the same expertise if her little gifts and tricks in the courtroom were anything to go by.

“Good evening, ladies.” The sudden appearance of their waiter and his voice startled both women out of their conversation. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’ll be closing in a few moments.”

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry.” Lena frantically searched the booth next to her for her purse to settle the bill, but Kara’s voice stopped her.

“No worries,” Kara beamed at him, “This was wonderful. I’m assuming everything’s been taken care of?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you made sure there was an obscene tip?” Kara playfully warned him.

“It was my pleasure to serve you tonight.” The man smiled thankfully and gave them each a brief nod before disappearing back through the restaurant to the kitchen.

“I thought I was supposed to pay for tonight.” Lena accused.

“Buy me breakfast and we’ll call it even.”

“How presumptuous of you, Miss Danvers.”

She didn’t fight it. Not when Kara directed the driver to her shabby apartment, not when she fumbled with her keys at the door, and certainly not when she let her ever so slowly unzip the back of her dress.

A car horn rocked her suddenly into wakefulness and she froze before she realized where she was. The light from the stained glass windows tampered the bright sunlight from her eyes as Kara’s hand snaked around to draw lazy patterns on her back. The brunette sighed in contentment and snuggled further into her side. What she wouldn’t give to stay in this moment forever.

“Morning.” Kara murmured. Lena hummed in response before realizing it wasn’t a weekend and they were due to meet in the L-Corp offices that morning.

“What time is it?”

“7 AM. Plenty of time.” Kara mused as she rolled them over to lay a gentle kiss on Lena’s lips.

“Two hours is not enough time for me to get home and changed before the Danvers tornado destroys my office.” Lena groaned and tapped her leg to let her up so she could stretch. “Besides, I’m actually excited for this meeting.”

“Me too, now that I think of it.” Kara lounged back with her arms crossed behind her head. “After talking to Winn yesterday I think this case might end quite amicably.”

“We’re in serious danger of peace breaking out. How ever will you seduce me now?”

“I’m sure I can find other ways of getting under your skin,” Kara mused before pulling the brunette back down to the bed.

“So let’s have it, counselor,” Lena said with a raised brow, “What’s your friend’s magic number?”

“It’s funny, really—”

“Mike only wants—”

“He only wants the—”

Both women froze and Lena moved to sit back as Kara propped herself up with her elbows. Realization dawned between them and shattered the tenuous ceasefire between them.

“How did I not see this coming…?” Kara groaned as she flopped back on the bed. Lena jumped up and started rooting through the closet to borrow another horrible outfit. “Where are you going?”

“I knew something like this would happen. God, I’m so fucking stupid.”

“Whoa, what’s happening right now?” Kara sat up in alarm and winced as Lena threw random articles of clothing at her. They really needed to get better about talking through their thought processes.

“We can’t be dating and be opposing counselors, can you imagine the liability concerns alone? Not to mention the internal audits we’d be constantly subjected to!”

“That all happened fast.” Kara took stock of the clothes on her bed and decided to just go with it and start getting dressed. “Why are you assuming we’d always be opposing counselors?”

“You and I both know that we’d obliterate any other lawyer in National City.”

“Didn’t seem to be a problem for you until this morning.”

“Yeah, but you came in here with your fucking moral high ground, threw it in the dumpster with the camisole stunt—I haven’t forgotten that, by the way.”

Lena briefly emerged from the closet to give her a threatening glare as Kara shook her head in annoyance. This was like watching a car wreck in slow motion. It was the Sara Lance case all over again, but this time it was Lena playing it close to the chest.

“Now the whole city knows if your spouse hires Kara Danvers, I’m the only shot you’ve got at winning. We’re not going to have a choice in the matter.”

“This is definitely not how I pictured this going when I woke up this morning.” Kara mumbled to herself as she buttoned a checkered shirt.

“Sorry to be such a disappointment.” Lena spat before disappearing into the living room, picking up her dress from last night, and vanishing like she was a figment of Kara’s imagination.

“What the fuck just happened…?”

Kara walked into the law offices of L-Corp with such a pained expression that Jess offered to bring her painkillers for her hand. The blonde looked at her lightly discolored knuckles in confusion before reassuring Jess that it was just a hectic morning.

“Mike’s got a glass jaw, so don’t worry about it.”

“How did the date go?” Jess whispered as they watched Lena packing her things behind the wall of glass.

“I thought it went great until this morning,” Kara admitted before asking, “Is this…uh, normal? For her, I mean.”

“Unfortunately,” Jess nodded with a wince. Lena threw open her office door and emerged in a tailored blue pinstripe suit. A far cry from the casual shirt and slacks she assigned to Kara that morning. Jess made a quick calculation before turning her back to her boss and whispering, “Please don’t give up on her.”

Kara smiled at the defiant young woman and watched as she returned to her desk as guardian of L-Corp. She gave the secretary a quick wink and before allowing herself to be ushered to the elevator by Lena.

They arrived at the courthouse and were swiftly led up to Judge Grant’s chambers. The older woman raised a questioning eyebrow at Kara’s laidback and subdued prescience. She only shrugged in response and remained in the back of the room with her hands in her pockets doing her best to hold up the bookshelf.

“I don’t know why I keep drawing the short straw with you two, but here we are.”

“I apologize, Your Honor,” Lena said from her seat in front of the desk. “We’ve met with our clients and have come to a bit of a conundrum.”

“They both want the same asset and _only_ that asset.” Kara droned.

Cat Grant was a straight to the point and no bullshit kind of lady and all Kara really wanted to do right now was have a conversation with Lena where there were no excuses or pressing matters for her to attend to.This whole thing could have been solved by now if the women would just talk to her! If she needed to sit though a five minute meeting with the judge so Lena could have some peace of mind before deciding this for themselves, so be it.

“This seems like a problem with a fairly simple solution, Miss Luthor.”

“Thank god.” Kara sighed to herself.

“Go to Mapleville and depose the staff. Find out who has more of a claim to the house and we’ll go from there when you get back.”

Cat’s devilish smile cut right through Kara’s last nerve and the two glared at each other in stoic silence as Lena thanked the judge and stood up to leave. Kara was quick to follow her out the door, but her mentor was faster and she froze as a hand locked around her elbow.

“I’m starting to figure out what the deal is between you two, and I applauded your efforts, but she clearly needs a bit of a nudge.”

“I think she can decide this for herself, don't you?”

“Lena Luthor is her own worst enemy thanks to Lillian.”

Kara sighed as she recalled some of the more terrifying stories of growing up in the Luthor household that Lena had entrusted to her the previous night.

“You do know that midsummer is this weekend, right?” Kara asked with raised brows.

“Oh? I had no idea…”

The judge dropped her arm walked back into the depths of her office as Kara laughed herself horse at the situation she’d found herself in.

A non-girlfriend who she had successfully convinced to go on an—apparently—one-time only date with her. A best friend who was suing her ex-boyfriend in a divorce that she had volunteered to litigate. A sort-of friend who worked for the aforementioned non-girlfriend and was actively trying to single-handedly bring them together. A meddling judge and former mentor who loved nothing more than stirring shit up just to see what might jump out.

And how could she forget the newly minted round-trip journey back to the middle of bumfuck nowhere during an annual festival of drinking and fighting all in the name of love. There’s no way it could possibly get any worse.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you all, but please: Don't pressure your friends to drink and don't drink 5 shots of moonshine in like 15 minutes. It's fiction, folks ;D

Lena was not lost. She might be a little disoriented in the seemingly endless sea of corn and soybeans, but she was definitely not lost. Mapleville didn’t have an airport that she could fly into—in fact; the only airport close enough was in the middle of nowhere and serviced ten separate towns. Most of the passengers on her flight walked out of the airport and straight into their own cars or the back of trucks and pulled away in a rush to beat the sun before it set.

She glanced around the desolate parking lot trying to plan her next move. She didn’t expect much of the odd little hub, but was a single reputable-looking taxi or rental service too much to ask for? She checked her phone and found zero bars. Great.

Maybe she should’ve swallowed her pride and just let Kara handle all the arrangements considering she used to live in the area. When she found the blonde discussing plans for their stay with Jess, she had dismissed her outright and sent her out of the building. Not her finest moment to be sure.

“Ready to talk?” A smug voice sounded behind her. She turned to find Kara waiting for her to admit she needed help with her arms crossed and a military-style duffel by her side.

“I thought you had left already.” Lena said in a small voice. She focused on the toes of her dusty heels and forced herself to breathe evenly.

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m not that much of an asshole.” The blonde said in defeat as she picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Lena immediately regretted wearing her typical business attire. Kara blended seamlessly into the country environment in her heavy boots and loose flannel.

“I’m sorry.” Lena forced herself to say.

“For what?”

“For… I don’t know. Jumping to conclusions, making us come out here, not talking about it, not telling you what was wrong…all of it.”

“That’ll do for now.” Kara replied with a soft smile. “I brought some things for you to wear that might be more comfortable than your current get up if you want to change. They're even in your color pallet thanks to Jess.”

“Thank you.” She mumbled as she took the proffered drawstring bag and walked over to the bathroom. She emerged stealthily despite the lack of travelers. Flannel wasn’t really her style, but at least it was soft and more comfortable than her stiff dress and heels. She found Kara drinking a beer on the curb with the security guard of the airport.

“Careful on that drive, Supergirl.” He said getting to his feet as Lena slowly approached them. “Gonna stop by your mom’s place?”

“Yup,” Kara said with a smile, “got a case in Mapleville if you can believe it.”

“Shoot, during the festival too?” The guard said as he locked up the doors of the airport.

“I guess I’m just lucky like that.” Kara shrugged and tossed her empty beer can into the nearest trashcan. “See you in a few days, Billy.”

“You got it.”

Lena followed Kara, but kept her eyes on the old security guard. He jumped into a massive truck and thundered away into the night.

“So… what now?” She asked.

“Now,” Kara answered as she indicated a rusty death trap of a pick-up truck parked in the back of the lot, “we drive to my stepmom’s house.”

“Does this thing even run?” Lena asked in disbelief. The truck in question must’ve been built in the 40s and appeared to have more rust than paint on the cab. The bed of the truck was all weathered wood, which made Lena terrified to think of what might be hiding under the hood.

“Course it runs! Alex rebuilt it herself for me in high school.” Kara jerked open the passenger door and motioned for Lena to climb inside. Kara joined her in the cab from the opposite side and the beast roared to life at her first turn of the key.

Their journey through the night at breakneck speed meant neither Kara nor Lena slept a wink before they turned off the main highway and into a small neighborhood. They twisted and turned through the rows of cookie-cutter houses before Kara pulled the truck to a shuddering stop in front of the only house with its lights still on.

“Welcome to my childhood home.” Kara smiled as she powered down the truck before jumping out of the cab. Eliza opened the front door and flung herself at Kara’s tall form. If Lena didn’t know that she was adopted, she’d never guess they were unrelated. Both women stood tall and with long blonde hair cascading down their shoulders.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Eliza said as she gave her daughter a thorough once-over, checking every limb like she was used to Kara returning battered and bruised.

“Eliza, this is Lena Luthor.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Danvers.” Lena said.

She held out her hand, but the woman gave her a giant bear hug instead. She ushered them into the house and insisted on taking Lena’s tiny roll-along while Kara laughed at the brunette’s discomfort. For someone who was used to ordering people about, being pampered as a guest was clearly a foreign concept.

“I made up the guest room for you two,” Eliza said before opening the door to a spacious room with a single large bed dominating the space. Lena did her best not to hyperventilate at the insinuation, but failed miserably. “We’ll catch up in the morning.”

Kara gave her mom another long hug and thanked her for all the help with the truck and letting them stay with her before closing the door behind her.

“One bed?” Lena questioned with a raised brow.

“If it’s a problem, I can sleep on the floor,” Kara offered.

“She didn’t think it was weird?”

“Both her daughters are gay as fuck,” the blonde laughed, “did you expect her to be a raging homophobe or something?”

“I’m just a little surprised, that’s all,” Lena laughed at herself for being so prejudiced.

“Let me guess,” Kara began changing into her pajamas as she talked and Lena eventually followed suit, “you heard ‘Midwest’ and thought cornfields and hillbillies, right?”

“I’ve only ever known the city, what do you expect from me?” Lena laughed as she pulled back the covers and slipped into the bed.

“This weekend is going to be lots of fun for me, then.” Kara replied as she lay down and turned to face the brunette by her side.

“And you’re not going to give me any hints?”

“Not on your life.” She beamed at the woman before her eyes grew heavy.

Lena pondered what the blonde had said and stared at the ceiling of the simple room. Mike and Winn lived out here, and it’s not like they would fight so passionately over a piece of property where everyone hated them. Eliza seemed pleasant enough, but she knew from experience that masks could fall at the drop of a hat. Maybe she was worried for nothing.

“Eliza!” Kara's hushed whisper cut through the darkness.

“What was I supposed to think, honey?”

Lena turned to see the sun hadn't even crested the horizon and focused on the hushed whispers and smell of fresh pancakes coming from the kitchen. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes, but didn’t move as she strained to hear the rest of the Danvers' conversation.

“Showing up out of the blue, saying you’re headed to Mapleville, and on the eve of Midsummer of all things?”

“It’s not like that, I swear.” Lena could practically visualize Kara’s slumped form on the table as she groaned in frustration. “It’s just terrible, _terrible_ timing.”

“She seems very nice…” Eliza’s voice teased.

“Trust me, she’s not.” Kara mumbled.

Lena smiled into her pillow and decided she had better make her appearance before the blonde women got suspicious of her absence. True to her predictions, Kara sat at the kitchen table with her head cradled in her hand and tension in her neck. Eliza beamed as she entered the kitchen and promptly set to work fixing her a plate.

“I hope almond milk is okay in the pancakes,” Eliza said as she ushered the brunette to a free space at the table and placed a rather large plate of pancakes between the three of them. “We also have oatmeal and fruit. I had to rely on Kara's expertise for vegan options.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Danvers. These look wonderful.”

“Oh, please call me Eliza.”

Kara groaned and dropped her head to the table. She only had to make it to Sunday night. 48 hours and she’d be on her way back to National City and far, _far_ away from Mapleville.

The three women finished their breakfast and said their goodbyes to Eliza before loading into the truck. Kara drove them over the hills and deep into a surprisingly large forest nestled between two distant mountains.

“Do you think we’ll have enough time to interview the staff?” Kara asked her.

“They won’t want to talk to us during this festival thing?”

“Divorce isn’t really a thing for this town…”

Mapleville sat smack dab in the middle of a sprawling valley with the forest rising around them in all directions. A beautiful manor sat neatly on the largest hill, standing guard over the quaint little town below. They passed a massive grass field in the center of town where people were already setting up tents and an alarming amount of kegs.

“Can you tell me the story of this place at least?” Lena tried to catch Kara’s eye, but the blonde refused to take her eyes off the road. She watched as her knuckles turned white against the steering wheel.

“I have some bad memories associated with it,” Kara whispered, “The last time I was here, I got dumped.”

“Okay…” Lena nodded in understanding, “What about the origins of the festival?”

“Back in the day, like 200 years ago, this town didn’t really exist as anything more than the big house and the workers who tapped trees for the syrup industry. There were these huge fight in the city center as a couple of guys fought over the same girl now and then.”

“Hmm, how manly of them.” Lena rolled her eyes at the idea of such a barbaric spectacle.

“Just wait for the ending,” Kara said with a knowing smile. She might have bad memories of the festival itself, but the legend was one of her favorites growing up.

“So the mayor of the town, the man in the big house, decided the summer solstice would be the perfect day for them to settle their issues in a series of competitions. Everyone met in the big field and the winners got to ask their love to marry them.”

“So it’s like a creepy misogynistic version of the highland games?”

“So impatient…” Kara chastised before she continued. “Anyway, the mayor’s son lost to this guy, a no-one tree tapper—think David and Goliath, but a bit redneck.”

“So David wins and proclaims his love for Goliath’s girl?” Lena said with a chuckle.

“More like David wins and proposes to Goliath.” Kara said with a knowing smirk, waiting for Lena to digest that last bit.

“Wait… The tree tapper and the mayor’s _son_?”

“Yes, isn’t it romantic?” Kara said with a wistful look, “There's a lot more to the story, but that's the important bits. Turns out the mayor knew already and they got married that night. So every year the towns gather here and celebrate the boys’ bravery with little competitions and their undying love with weddings. Also an alarming number of bonfires.”

“Sounds like a lame excuse to get black-out drunk and punch things,” Lena grumbled as Kara pushed the old truck to its limit getting them up the long, steep drive to reach the stout manor.

Kara playfully smacked her arm, but Lena didn’t have time to respond before the manner suddenly appeared in all its glory before them. Three stories tall and concealing at least a hundred rooms if she had to guess. Even in the middle of nowhere, the house must’ve cost millions of dollars.

“Oh my god.”

“Yup,” Kara said with a smile. She looked over to see her staring at the building with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open in shock.

“Forget Mike and Winn,” she finally said, “I want it. How did they even afford this place?”

“They didn’t, the previous owned gifted it to them.” Kara told her as they all jumped out of the cab.

“What?!” Lena cried.

“Everyone’s got their own story to tell about this place,” Kara said while unpacking the bed of the truck, “That one’s all theirs.”

“And what’s yours?” Lena coyly asked, “Did you get married and divorced somewhere along the line?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous. I told you; got dumped, remember?” Kara said with a wince as Lena’s eyes went wide.

An honest to goodness butler answered the door and showed them to their (thankfully) separate rooms. Lena left her suitcase in the room and immediately began deposing the staff on the third floor.

She snaked through the ornate halls and tall rooms talking to anyone she could find. Most of them she interviewed right on the grand staircase as they were scrambling to finish their work early before the festival really began.

She ran down the steps with her borrowed flannel tied securely around her waist and almost crashed right into Kara racing to reach the second floor after talking to the gardeners and the cook.

“They all agree with me so far!” the blonde shouted, taking the steps two at a time.

“Same here!” Lena called back in a challenge.

Kara’s heavy steps fell silent and Lena glanced back to see why she had suddenly stopped when realization dawned on her. Either the house staff had been split right down the middle supporting Mike and Winn’s ownership or they didn’t realize they needed to pick a side. Or worse, they all knew about the impending divorce and refused to pick a side.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kara groaned as she crumpled up the notes she had taken. She took a deep breath and Lena could see the argument the blonde was having with herself as she leaded against the thick railing. “All right, let’s get drunk.”

“But what about the—”

“I’m hitching a ride to the festival.” Kara interrupted before descending the steps. “We need to be better about talking to each other, or to Mike and Winn at the least, and just figure this out ourselves.”

“Kara, wait—”

“Nope, I’m done waiting. You need to get over yourself, or whatever fears are holding you back, and talk to me about shit or… I don’t even know what.” Kara threw her hands up in defeat. When Lena didn’t say anything, she huffed and continued backing up to the front door.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what we’re doing anymore,” Kara said with a harsh laugh, “So I’m gonna let you take the lead and figure it out while I embrace the circumstances.”

“What does that entail exactly?” Lena said in a slight panic.

“It means I’m taking the day off,” Kara spat as she walked out the front door with Lena hot on her heels.

Lena didn’t really know where they were headed until she saw the crowd of people milling about on the sides of the field in the center of town. They had arrived just as the festival was getting into the full swing of things.

Men and women of all ages were warming up on the field as a couple of high school kids set up different stations that Lena couldn’t really figure out. The local football team marched in carrying five or six logs on their shoulders as the crowd cheered their arrival.

“So how does this work?” Lena called to over the din of the crowd.

“First, we drink,” Kara said with a shake of her head as she led them to a seat under the shade of the large event tent. She stopped to pick up a couple of shot glasses on her way in and handed one to Lena.

“What’s this?”

“It’s called Prairie Fire.” She replied with a dangerous glint in her eye, “Moonshine with a drop of hot sauce.”

“Moonshine?!”

“Yeah, you’ll like it. It’s the hillbilly version of ouzo.”

Lena examined the clear liquid and neat little drop of hot sauce resting at the bottom of her glass. She seriously doubted that this would taste of anything other than battery acid. They touched glasses and knocked back their shots without further adieu, but both women ended with a coughing fit.

“Damn that stings.”

“I was right,” Lena coughed, “battery acid.”

Kara nodded in agreement, but her eyes were locked on a group of people wrapping their hands and wrists in preparation for what Lena assumed to be a bare-knuckle boxing match. She tamped down her judgment of the place and decided to just go with the flow for once in her life.

“When did you start boxing?”

“Ninth grade.” Kara turned to her with a beaming smile. “Alex got an earful from my mother when we came home that night.”

“Let me guess,” Lena said, feeling like her normal self again despite their odd surroundings, “There was a girl.”

“Oh yes,” Kara said with a wince.

“I think I can see where this is going,” Lena said with a nod to the boxers warming up just outside the shade of the tent.

Kara hummed in agreement before continuing her story, “Senior year, I got this great idea to try my hand in the boxing match.”

“And promptly lost to the girl’s linebacker boyfriend?” Lena guessed with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, it was much worse than that.” Kara cringed at the memory and picked another shot for each of them off a passing waiter’s tray. “I won, if you can believe it.”

“Oh, I can believe it,” Lena said as she nudged the blonde’s shoulder with her own. This drink was apparently a lot more potent than she thought. “You did win that exhibition match in National City after all.”

“Knocked out three guys—sober, mind you. We were in high school.”

“Oh, of course.” Lena smirked. She knew Kara well enough by now to know that she might’ve had a shot or two of liquid courage.”

“Anyway,” Kara’s blush had returned with the second shot of Prairie Fire. “It was a disaster. Declared my undying love for her—as teenagers do—and she didn’t even know I went to the same school. It was so embarrassing.”

Lena joined in with Kara’s self-depreciating laughter. Of course Kara had neglected to actually talk to the poor girl for four years.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as the ‘admire from afar’ type,” Lena said, trying to collect herself.

“Oh, I was a wreck in high school,” Kara insisted with a giggle.

Lena cringed at the image in her head of younger version of the Kara she knew. No cheeky comments or brazen flirting to off set the depth of feeling and mindful observations. She wasn’t surprised that the blonde had turned herself into the dashing siren Lena had been captivated by over the past decade or so.

“You’re just passionate,” Lena said with a small smile, remembering Kara’s words during their brief stint behind bars.

“You gonna compete, Supergirl?”

Lena and Kara turned their gaze to a slim woman with long black hair rocking a leather jacket standing in front of their table. Kara nearly chocked on her glass of water, but quickly composed herself at the newcomer’s self-satisfied smirk.

“Zatanna,” Kara choked out, “What are you doing here?”

“Just visiting dear old dad,” she said and sat down across from them at the table, tossing her luscious hair over her shoulders.

It took about three seconds for Lena to connect Kara’s flustered look and Zatanna’s smug look to the story she had just heard. Taking pity on the blonde, Lena decided to continue her investigation into Kara’s past life.

“Why does everyone call you Supergirl?” She asked and immediately knew she had stepped right on a landmine in her attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Oh, that, uh—”

“Everyone started calling her that after she beat up three guys and confessed her love for me.” Lena nearly spat her mouthful of water in the girl’s face. “She also won like a billion state championships or something.”

“Four,” Kara clarified.

“Enough of the history lesson,” Zatanna waved her off and pointed to Lena, “Who’s this?”

“Excuse me?” Lena said as she felt her hackles rise.

“Lena, meet Zatanna Zatara,” Kara answered with a bored expression before calling over a waiter to their table with a raised hand, “Zee, this is Lena Luthor. She’s the opposing counsel in my latest divorce case.”

“And you decided to take her home for the love festival?” Zatanna asked with a raised brow.

“We’re here on a case.” Lena informed her, but wished she hadn’t as the woman’s jaw practically bounced off the table.

“No… Mike and Winn?” At Kara’s nod the woman settled into her impromptu seat at their table and set her jacket off to the side. “What the hell happened with those guys?”

“You know what, we can’t—” Lena began before Kara cut her off.

“Same shit, different zip code.”

“Welcome to the Midsummer Festival!” A large man announced from the top of a particularly large table at the front of the tent. He held one of the band’s microphones in his hand and held it aloft as the crowd cheered back at him. “This is the last call for Prairie Fire trays. Remember, you gotta finish the tray before you can begin any of the other events, folks!”

Lena was truly disturbed by the number of men and women who were anxiously awaiting the go signal from the man with a try of three shots sitting before them.

Kara’s quiet pleading with Zatanna caught her attention just in time to see a two waiters deliver three trays of alcohol to their table. Lena’s eyes went wide at the three shots staring back at her from the table. She didn’t really want to compete in anything, let alone a drinking contest.

“You can just take mine to someone else.” She tried to tell the nearest waiter, but Zatanna looked like the cat who had caught the canary.

“Oh, she’s just joking with you,” the stranger assured the waiter.

“I’m working,” Lena hissed at her, “And I don’t know how this works!”

“Come on, Lena,” Kara said with a comforting hand on her shoulder, “It’ll be fine.”

“You’ll figure it out soon enough,” Zatanna said, “First one to finish the tray wins and you don’t have to do anything else tonight, deal?”

“Is that really the rule?” She asked Kara.

“Uh, yeah, actually, but maybe don’t—”

“GO!” the man on the table yelled and Lena immediately started throwing back the shots. This was a horrible idea, but it’s not like she had never done this before. Suddenly she was very thankful for Jack inviting her to his grad school parties.

“Done!” She managed to spit out as she stood and lifted her hand in the air before clutching the edge in a panic.

The crowed tent went deadly silent before Zatanna spat her second shot across the table and let loose an honest-to-goodness cackle. Kara stared, eye wide with panic at Lena’s tray of empty shot glasses.

“Uh… we have a winner, folks,” the man said dumbly into the microphone as a murmur sent through the crowd. “Uh, everyone else, you still have, like, 25 minutes to finish your trays…”

Lena turned to Kara with a glare that could melt steel. They had a half hour to finish the tray and no one told her?!

“Kara Danvers.” She ground out between clenched teeth. Kara shrunk away at ice lacing her tone. “You better hope I don’t remember this tomorrow morning.”

Zatanna’s laughter cut through her boiling rage. “No worries there, dear. None of us will remember much of this night tomorrow morning.”

The room tilted and Lena sunk carefully back to her seat before hr vision went dark and her head landed on her arm in front of her. She could just make out Kara’s soothing hand on her back and her angry words to Zatanna.

“You better hope she’s awake soon, Zee.”

“Or what? You’ll do your little Supergirl routine?”

The last thing Lena heard was the sound of Kara’s alcohol-induced and furious demented laughter as she let the darkness swallow her whole.


	8. Chapter 8

She was dying. That was her only explanation for the unyielding jackhammer currently pounding on her skull. Lena fought valiantly against the surge of vertigo with her eyes closed and threw her arm out searching for anything flat and solid to keep the room from rocking and spinning around her.

She hadn’t felt this bad since her college days when she was known for drinking the physics department under the table. Gods, her head felt like it might explode. She took a few steadying breaths and forced her eyes open against the soft orange glow. They focused squarely on the crystal chandelier above her until her stomach settled.

Her painful groan filled the space as she dragged her hand down her face, but it was echoed back to her from the warm body at the opposite end of the bed. She turned her head to find a cascade of blonde hair on the pillow. Not again… Oh, gods. It was all coming back to her now.

**Last night…?**

“I-I, hmm,” a woman with long, flowing black hair stood on the table pointing an accusing finger at Lena who tried disappearing into thin air. The sun was barely dipping below the roof of the tent behind the crazed women.

“Oh, come on, Zee,” Kara hiccuped beside her, “You’re too wasted for this shit.”

“Give me a second…” Lena looked back to the strange woman trying to focus her thoughts into a single cohesive sentence. “Ah, I challenge you!”

Lena threw her head back and laughed as the crowd around them burst into applause and toasted the delusional woman.

“I’ve already beaten you!” Lena reminded the woman. Zatanna…that was her name. “You can barely stand!”

“Fuck,” the woman looked as if she were struggling to hold her thoughts together. “I challenge, uh… Kara. Boxing match!”

“What?!” Lena heard her voice crack with the exclamation, but it was lost in the crowd of cheers and shouts of ‘Supergirl!’ thundering around them.

“You’re on!” Kara said, rising from the table and downing another shot.

**Yesterday afternoon…?**

A bunch of dunk adults struggling to lift some stones was not exactly what she had in mind when Kara was explaining the festival to her, but that’s definitely what she was looking at.

Her vision was still a little blurry, and she wanted to put her head down and go back to sleep, but the cheering crowd and a deep chuckle next to her kept pulling her back to the land of the living. She turned her head on her arms to get a view of the large man sitting next to her and almost gave herself a heart attack when she registered the black shirt and while collar around his neck.

“Am I dead?” She whispered to him.

“I certainly hope not,” he said to her with a soft smile, “But I’m glad you’re awake. Your girlfriend over there was quite worried about you.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Lena groaned before forcing her head off the table and reaching for her the nearest glass of water.

“Funny,” he said with a raised brow, “she kept saying the same thing.”

“What’s a priest doing in a place like this?” Lena asked to change the subject.

“Oh, it's just for the weddings. That reminds me…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple gold ring before setting it on the table before her. “It’s your prize for winning the drinking contest, but I think that may be the last year we include that little event.”

“I’m sorry,” Lena said as she felt the headache building behind her eyes.

She looked back to the field and saw Kara rolling up the sleeves of her flannel before stepping up to a large stone and struggling to pick it up off the ground. A teenager had his face and chest pressed to the ground waiting to see a glimmer of light between the ground and rock. Probably one of the football players from earlier. Kara’s face distorted in pain, but she couldn’t manage to lift the weight completely and dropped the stone with a loud thud.

“Why in the world would people do this to themselves?”

“Mostly for fun,” the man said. “I’m Jonn, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lena said as they shook hands, “Sorry about the circumstances.”

“It’s quite all right. Not my first time on protection detail.” At Lena’s confused look he explained, “Zatanna was only able to drag Kara away from your side if I promised to keep an eye on you.”

“Oh, god.” Lena said as she covered her face in shame. “I’m so sorry.”

Jonn just laughed at her and handed her another glass of water to drink.

“Don’t worry about it. If you think Kara is protective, you should meet the other Danvers sister.” He said with a wink.

“Alex, right?” James hummed in acknowledgement. “What’s she like?”

“A bit like Kara, actually, just… more. Kara’s a smile, but Alex is a laugh. If Kara is confident, Alex is a bit cocky. Where Kara is protective, Alex is practically vengeful. She always wanted to be just like Alex.”

“Sounds like they’re very close.”

“They were,” Jonn looked down at his hands as a cloud crossed his face, “but you know how it goes. Distance, circumstance, time.”

Lena accepted his explanation, but sensed something missing in his words. She’d have to ask Kara about it later. She remembered the good days with her brother, but wouldn’t wish losing a sibling on her worst enemy. It was like having a piece of your very essence ripped out.

“I was at their wedding,” Jonn said as a smile broke across his face. Kara had just managed to toss a tree trunk about her size an impressive distance across the field to the crowd’s cheers. “Alex and Maggie’s. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kara so happy.”

Kara glanced in their direction, concern etched in her features, but it melted away as she realized Lena had finally woken up. She waved and the smile she gave them reminded Lena of the sun breaking through the clouds on an overcast day.

“This is a close second, though,” Jonn teased as Lena blushed at his insinuation, “A very close second.”

Lena cast her gaze downward, but landed on the plain golden band she had won. She traced the little circle aimlessly with her finger as the crowd caught their attention again. A man who stood at least a foot over Kara’s head had just crushed every other log throw by at least ten feet.

He flexed and posed to the crowd’s cheers, but managed to pull himself together when his wife refused to kiss him until he stopped. Lena accidentally caught Kara’s gaze, but the blonde only shrugged and blushed profusely at the couple’s antics.

**Later-ish…? Maybe…?**

“I thought you were out there with Kara.” Lena said as she sat down at the table with a tray of beers for them.

“Are you kidding me?” Zatanna replied with an affronted look, “I’m not getting covered in hay just for some silly ring.”

Lena snorted into her drink, but couldn’t help feeling her pocket to make sure the little gold band was still safe.

“So what’s your story, Luthor?”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“How telling.” She said before digging into her bag and pulling out a deck of cards to fiddle with as she tried to crack through Lena’s protective walls. “I blame my overprotective father and his subsequent negligence.”

“What—?”

“You can have both, trust me.” Lena watched as the cards danced and turned in the woman’s hands as if gravity had no effect on them whatsoever.

“I guess…” Lena hesitated. It’s not something she particularly enjoyed talking about, but she took a surprising amount of comfort in the fact that this woman was a stranger she would probably never meet again. “Dead father’s bastard daughter? Emotionally abusive stepmother? Absent brother?”

“Now that’s a potent combination.”

“Why do you ask?”

“You just seem familiar to me, like we’ve been through some of the same shit.”

Lena hummed in agreement as they watched a young man launch a hay bail over his head, but fail to get it high enough to crest over the broomstick marker.

“Listen,” Zatanna said as she twirled the deck of cards in her hands. Lena was thankful for the distraction as it allowed her to avoid meeting the woman’s gaze. “Don’t be like me. I spend two months of the year with a front row view of what my life could have been if I wasn’t so scared.”

Lena turned her gaze to the woman’s face as she huffed and switched up the shuffling style as the cards spun deftly around her fingers.

“What do you mean?”

“You and her.” Zatanna said as she nodded towards Kara cheering alongside the crowd as she waited for her turn. “I was the exact same with Richard; never allowing him to get too close, keeping one foot out the door, leading him on only to push him away.”

Lena’s face blanched at the accuracy of the woman’s words, but kept her gaze locked on a short girl as she struggled to toss the hay bail over her head, let alone over the broomstick.

“They can only wait for us so long, you know?” Zatanna transferred the deck of cards to a single hand, but the cards never stopped moving as she took a long gulp of her beer. “I do magic tricks for these large companies, but every summer Dick invites me to rejoin the circus life with him for a month or two—old time’s sake and all that.”

“And you go?”

“Of course,” she said, looking a bit offended, “We’re still good friends. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have to look at the life I could’ve had if I hadn’t been a complete moron.”

Zatanna smiled at her, but soon turned back towards the crowd of people on the field in front of them. Kara had just stepped up to the bail of hay beneath a suspended broomstick. The crowd hollered and whistled as she removed her flannel shirt to tie around her waist revealing a tank that showed off her powerful arms.

She grabbed the thick ropes of the hay bail and crouched down for only a second before catapulting the object up and over the broomstick far above her head. The crowd went wild and Kara celebrated with them before turning back to Lena and waving for her to join the crowd of drunken hooligans.

“Regardless of what you might think about yourself; you deserve it.”

“Deserve what?” Lena asked her, feeling like she already knew the answer.

“Whatever happiness she’s desperately trying to give you.” Zatanna said with a sly smile before dropping her deck of cards on the table and dragging Lena with her out to the field of chaos.

**“Sometime?” That’s a wonderful time of day…**

There was no denying it; Kara looked good. Lena hid her blush behind the rim of her glass as she blatantly stared at the warrior goddess before her.

Kara’s tank top had disappeared somewhere, but that didn’t stop her from radiating confidence as she adjusted the tape covering her hands and wrists. Unfortunately for her, Zatanna looked significantly more sober than earlier as she shook out her shoulders and threw her own shirt into the dirt.

“You guys couldn’t have just done the hay toss thing again?” Lena slurred. She was a bit lightheaded, but couldn’t tell if it was because of the moonshine or the light dancing across the blonde’s flexing abs.

“It’s all fists after sunset,” Zatanna called back, “right, Danvers?”

Lena snorted into her glass at their drunken reasoning; the sun was barely touching the horizon, but sound logic wasn’t about to stop them. Kara at least glanced at the sunset before shrugging and settling into a fighting stance.

There were standing on two railway ties set up side by side, about arms-width apart. The rules appeared to be simple enough: knock your opponent from the log without leaving your own. Lena supposed any rules were better than letting a bunch of drunkards duke it out on their own.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Zee.”

“Hey!” Lena called from the edge of the crowd, causing the two women to pause, “Keep your faces out of it, yeah?”

“What?” Zatanna asked in utter confusion.

“I’ve got a date in court next week,” Kara explained.

“A date with the Luthor?” Zatanna teased before Kara's fists started flying at her.

Lena shook her head in dismay at their antics, but quickly joined in with the cheering crowd as they two ladies stumbled and crashed into each other with all the grace of a pair of sea lions.

Zatanna seemed to get the upper hand for a moment by throwing her entire body weight against the blonde’s shoulders, but Kara’s muscle memory kicked in at the last moment. Instead of losing her balance and falling over backwards, she uses the momentum to fling the magician across her hip and into the ground without stepping off her log.

The mass of bodies around them swarmed and carried Lena right to Kara, still in her victory stance on the long. They cheered alongside the others and someone passed a golden ring to Kara who promptly held it aloft before leaning down to capture Lena’s lips in a searing kiss. The brunette snaked her arms around Kara’s neck and pulled her as close as she could.

**When was this…?**

Lena was quickly losing her voice as she cheered on the runners tearing across the field. This was clearly Kara’s least favorite event, which didn’t surprise Lena one bit, but Zatanna seemed to be holding her own in group of leaders. The cheers grew ever louder as a young man started pulling away from the rest and managed to speed up as they neared the finish line.

The man crossed with his fists in the air and another man broke free of the crowd to jump into his arms before they both crashed to the ground and dissolved into laughter. The announcer snaked his way through the crowd and helped them to their feet before presenting the winner with a golden ring.

“Marry me!” He cried, falling to his knees and presenting the ring to his boyfriend. Lena couldn’t hear his response as the crowd burst into applause and wild cheers at the turn of events. She saw Jonn walking towards the pair from the tent with a large smile on his face. Kara arrived at her side just in time to be greeted by Lena’s confused face.

“This is happening right now?”

“Yeah,” Kara said, as if it was obvious, “There’s normally two or three each year.”

“Is this…” Lena hesitated before deciding to just go for it, “Is this where your sister got married?”

The same cloud of sadness crossed Kara’s bright face, but she nodded and grabbed Lena’s hand to get them closer to the ceremony. Lena watched with rapt attention as the crowd stilled and the men took their positions before Jonn.

The emotional depth of the crowd around her surprised her and there were more than a few people palming tears from their cheeks. Gold chains were provided for the rings and they reverently placed the necklaces around each other’s neck.

“The vows you have taken are holy and binding...” Jonn’s deep baritone sounded through the gathering as he continued, blessing the couple’s marriage.

Lena glanced at the young man facing them to find a look she knew like the back of her hand. He gazed up to his new husband with all the love and affection that could possibly exist in a person. She couldn’t help but be reminded of the same expression adorning Kara’s face whenever she had managed to catch the blonde looking at her out the corner of her eye.

**Was this even real?!**

She gazed into Kara’s eyes as she picked a few strands of hay from the woman’s golden hair. Even with the fires dying around them, and more than a few people passed out on the various tables and chairs, she still radiated warmth like their own personal sun.

She ducked her head as Kara gently placed the thin necklace around her neck. The weight of the golden ring suspended from it settled comfortably onto her chest. She returned the gesture for Kara and smiled as the blonde took a deep breath against the weight of the ring against her chest.

“You’ve exchanged rings as a token of your eternal love...” Jonn’s voice beside them disappeared into the either around them as Lena reached for the blonde’s hands. Kara’s forehead tilted to rest against her own and the world melted away around them.

“You may now seal your binding with a kiss.”

**OH NO**

Lena’s eyes flew open and she launched herself off the bed in a cold panic. There’s no way they could’ve been that stupid. It was a dream, just a dream, or another mistaken night together at the most. Her reassurances died immediately as she felt the little ring land against her chest.

“Oh my god,” Lena cried as reality slammed back into her. “Oh, okay. Wake up! Wake up, Kara!”

The blonde turned over, but refused to pick her head up from the pillow until Lena dragged the sheet off the bed to cover herself. The cool air on her body did the trick and Kara jumped into a sitting position. With a squeak at her own naked body, she grabbed the pillow and covered herself as best she could.

“You notice any new jewelry this morning?”

“What…?” Kara asked as she dragged a hand down her face to get the sleep out of her eyes.

“Your necklace, Kara!”

“Huh?” Kara asked before checking herself to find a gold ring suspended from her neck. “Oh, you’ve got one too.”

“Kara!” Lena said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Normally Kara was the morning person between the two of them.

“Oh…OH!” Kara’s flew open in a panic before burying her head in her hands as she realized what must have happened the night before.

It’s over. Lena would never forgive her for letting this happen. She should’ve never come back to this place, never mind the fact that they were both too blasted to realize what was actually happening.

“Did we get married last night?” Lena’s small voice pulled Kara from her own thoughts and she looked up to see the brunette’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m pretty sure we did, but the details are a bit fuzzy,” Kara rubbed the side of her face, trying to get her mind to remember any details from last night.

She was going to kill Cat as soon as she made it back to National City. She glanced back at Lena whose face was now streaked with tears.

“Those aren't happy tears.” She whispered, feeling her heart crack beneath the ring on her chest.

“Do I look happy?” Lena shouted at her before wiping the tears from her eyes. “Okay, it’s fine. We just need to find the guy that did this and get him to take it back.”

“I’m not sure that’s how marriages work, Lena.” Kara said to the pillow as tears blurred her vision. She would absolutely not cry in front of her.

“But we were drunk! And we didn’t mean it!”

“What if I did mean it?” Kara asked, snapping her head back to watch Lena angrily pacing around the room.

“Yeah, right.” Lena dismissed her comment without even looking at her. “How could you possibly mean it? You don’t want to be stuck with me for the rest of your life!”

“But—!”

“God, Kara, why would you ever be okay with that?!” Lena shouted before exiting the room in a desperate attempt to find her suitcase full of clothes. Kara could hear her murmurings and footsteps as she vanished down the hall and started planning their immediate divorce.

“Because I love you…” Kara whispered to an empty room as she clutched the pillow closer to her chest and let the tears finally escape.


	9. Chapter 9

The drive back to Midvale was silent for the most part. Kara didn’t even turn on the radio and Lena didn’t dare snake her arm out to flip the switch herself. The endless rows of crops spread out to the horizon beside her with the only variation being corn or soy. She barely recognized the crest of tree-lined valley sinking behind them in the side mirror. She could taste the stress with every breath and felt the tension slowly suffocating them as the truck barreled down the empty roads.

They finally arrived, but Kara powered down the truck at the entrance of Eliza’s neighborhood and turned to her with a waiting look. Lena looked into her eyes and knew she needed to say something productive. The woman had kept her thoughts primarily to herself since Lena fled their bedroom that morning, but she could tell the blonde was nearing her breaking point.

“I couldn’t find anyone at the house this morning,” Lena said looking do to her hands folded on her lap, “We’ll just have to file for divorce when we get back to National City and hope for the best. It’ll be like it never even happened.”

“But it did happen.” Kara said, trying to get Lena to meet her eyes through sheer force of will. “What happened is tied to a bigger issue between us. Lots of people get drunk without getting married.”

“You’re trying to support this insanity?” Lena finally looked up to glare out the windshield.

“We got married last night.” Kara reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind the brunette’s ear and tried to keep her smile in check as Lena leaned subtly into the touch. “That means something.”

“It means we were drunk and made a mistake. Again.” Lena’s voice was small and weak in her rebuttal.

“Okay.” Kara said, preparing to drop the subject. Lena obviously didn’t want to have this conversation right now, but maybe she’d have better luck on the plane.

“I’m serious, Kara. We can’t be married and be opposing counselors.”

It took all of her self-control to ignore the crack in the brunette’s voice. This was the second time Lena had brought this up as a reason to stay away from her and it was beyond time to find out what was really bothering her.

“Why not?”

“We’ll look ridiculous.”

“Why?”

“We’ll be the laughing stock of the National City bar association!” Lena said, turning to look out her passenger side window. “And you will say something in court just to start an argument.”

“Yeah…” Kara said, unable to stop the little smile from pulling at the corner of her lips. “We already do that in court and nobody seems to care.”

“Kara!”

“This is my marriage too, you know.” She insisted as Lena bristled beside her but remained silent.

“Hey, look at me,” Kara leaned across the bench seat and reached out to cup the woman’s cheek in her hand, bringing their eyes together at last. “We’re in this together now, okay? We’re a team.”

“For now.”

Kara could see her fighting with conflicting emotions swirling around her mind.

“What exactly is it you’re afraid of?”

“Losing my job, losing my company, then there's my reputation, you—”

“None of that is at risk here—wait, me? You’re afraid _of_ me or afraid of _losing_ me? Because—”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Lena grumbled beside her. She was quickly running out of excuses and Kara could finally see an end in sight.

“Well, that ship has sailed.” She joked and accepted Lena’s infantile shove with aplomb.

“See what I mean?”

“No, I don’t actually. That’s why we’re having this conversation.”

“I’m terrified, okay!” Kara’s eyes widened at the woman’s outburst. She had finally managed to get to the root of the problem.

“What if I turn into a frigid bitch like my mother? What if I become a psychotic monster like my brother? I’ve only ever managed to make—and keep—one friend without driving him away. What if you’re wrong about me? What if you end up hating me? What if we can’t make this work with our jobs? This is a big problem! How could our clients trust us with sensitive information? What if we lose all our clients? What if L-Corp falls into bankruptcy? What if—”

“What if aliens crash land on our planet and they have these powers that allow them to fly and lift cars and shoot lasers from their eyes?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lena asked as she wiped the tears pooling in her eyes.

“I thought you had pivoted the conversation to talk about your irrational fears and I wanted to join in.”

“This is serious, Kara!”

“Then why are you going off about losing your company?”

“What if—”

“Gods, how did you ever start such a successful business?” Kara shook her head in dismay at the brunette’s ping-ponging thoughts. “I mean, really, how is someone so accomplished and clever as you _possibly_ this insecure?”

“We’ll have to file first thing in National City.” Lena nodded along with her words as if she were trying to convince herself more than Kara.

“No one has to know we got married,” she reassured her, “but the moment you file, someone will be able to connect the dots. Let’s just pretend like it never happened and, I don’t know, maybe try going on a date without you freaking out on me the next morning or punishing yourself for feeling an emotion or two.”

She smiled in satisfaction as Lena failed to continue her brooding. Her laugh filled the cab and Kara knew it was the most beautiful sound in the world. She rested her arm across the back of their seat and nudged the brunette’s shoulder until she was leaning solidly against her.

“Feel better?” She asked.

“I don’t know how you do it.” Lena complained, but there was no malice in her tone. “You appear on TV, you join charity fights, you do stand-up comedy in court, and in your spare time you work as a couple's therapist.”

Kara laughed at Lena's description of her various shenanigans like she was some sort of magnificent superhero. She didn’t ask to appear on TV, she needed the money from those interviews to make up for the pro-bono cases she accepted. She was invited to the charity fight because Sara wanted to flirt with her sister, not because she was any good.

She scoffed at that last point and accepted that she might actually seem like an expert in comparison to her wife’s lack emotional dexterity… Hmm, ‘her wife.’ Yeah, she liked the sound of that. Maybe someday, far from now if she had to guess, Lena might actually accept their marriage and a divorce wouldn’t even be necessary.

“What’s your point?” She finally asked Lena.

“My point is that I was doing just fine before you showed up.”

“We both know that’s a lie.” Kara said, starting up the old truck. “You were lost before I came along.”

“Okay, princess charming.”

Lena chuckled at the blonde’s self-satisfied smirk and returned to her side of the bench seat. Maybe she was right. What was she doing with her life before everything got turned upside down? She knew the answer, but it still pained her to think of the path she had been headed down.

Ten-hour days were the norm and weekends were quiet days in an empty office. She had turned down so many of Jack’s invitations to events and vacations that she couldn’t remember the last time he had actually sent one. Jess had uprooted her entire life to follow her to National City, but she still insisted on working the same exhausting hours as her boss.

They soon arrived at Eliza’s house and she came out to greet them as soon as she heard the telltale rumbling of the ancient engine.

“How was the festival?”

“We got married.” Kara said coyly as Lena smacked her shoulder.

“Congratulations!” The older woman said with a knowing smile before enveloping her daughter in a bone-crushing hug.

“I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone.” Lena mumbled before accepting a warm hug of her own.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had a daughter come back from Mapleville wearing a necklace like that,” Eliza teased, “Honestly, I was surprised when Kara told me you two weren’t already married in National City.”

Aside from her and Eliza consistently poking fun at Kara for the entire drive back to the airport, their evening was fairly uneventful. Lena melted into the scratchy airplane seat as soon as she sat down. She shifted until her hand was resting against Kara’s and allowed herself to drift off to sleep as the blonde traced circles across the back of her hand.

“Look, I’m not complaining,” Jack insisted as he shoveled strawberry pancakes into his mouth, “but are you going to tell me why you insisted on taking me out to brunch after your little vacation?”

“I have something to tell you, but you have to promise not to speak of it ever again.”

“You know the rules; no NDA, no promises.”

Lena rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics and ignored the little voice in the back of her mind telling her this was probably a bad idea. She leaned across the table and gestured for him to do the same.

“I got married.” Lena whispered with fleeting glances around the deserted patio.

“Okay…?”

“Really?” Lena sat back against her chair and raised an eyebrow at Jack’s response. “No other questions?”

“I’ve known you for 18 years,” Jack said before digging back into his stack of pancakes. “Alcohol has a very interesting effect on you. You get emotional, you get spontaneous…getting married? It tracks.”

“Well, no one can know about it,” Lena insisted before continuing her own breakfast. “And I have to figure out a way to remotely file in Mapleville.”

“Why don’t you two just file here?” Jack asked with a furrowed brow.

“It would take the press exactly five minutes to draw a straight line from the case to the house, Mapleville, the festival, marriage, and divorce.”

“It’s not the shortest marriage I’ve heard of.” Jack shrugged at her. “I’m sure you could probably get it annulled so long as you didn’t…”

Lena’s face turned beat red and she nearly dropped her tea right into her lap at her friend’s insinuation.

“Never mind.” Jack said with a wink.

“The wiggle room isn’t important, we could get it annulled for being too drunk to walk. It’s the press. They’d draw the same conclusion.”

“So you two are just going to pretend that this never happened and get a quiet divorce in a year?”

“That’s the plan.”

Jack nodded along with her reasoning, but toasted her new foray into domestic bliss nevertheless. It was a good plan she had to admit, even if it was Kara that thought of it first. Perhaps asking the blonde out on another date wasn’t completely out of the question. They were already married after all; a few dates here and there couldn’t possibly throw her company into that much jeopardy.

The following morning Lena’s phone beeped to life with a few notifications. She ignored it and rolled to the opposite side of the bed, assuming it was just the return of her endless work emails. A few beeps later and she ducked under the covers while cursing Jack for annoying her first thing in the morning. When her ringtone blared to life a moment later, she angrily snatched the phone from its charging cradle and sat up to give him a piece of her mind.

“What do you want, Jack?”

“Hang up and look at the Vista’s lifestyle section.” He said before the line went dead.

She searched for The City Vista’s lifestyle section, but an incessant pounding forced her to drop the phone on her bed and run to the door. She looked through the spyhole and threw open the door to find Kara holding a bag of ice to her shoulder with a bruised hand.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Alex happened to me,” Kara spat, “Could I come in? I have some bad news you’ll want to hear.”

Lena held the door open for her and led the way back to the couch, completely forgetting about her phone beeping uncontrollably in the bedroom down the hall. Kara looked around the Spartan apartment and nodded as if she had correctly predicted the sort of decor Lena had chosen to surround herself with.

“You’ll want to get that,” she said, gesturing to the sound of Lena’s phone blowing up. She stopped by the bathroom to pick up the first aid kit before grabbing her phone and swiping it open to Jess’ text message.

The link she sent her directed her straight to a City Vista’s news article titled “Legal Love” with a photo of her and Kara arguing on the courthouse steps after the Lance trial months ago. If she wasn't so angry, she would've laughed at her own rosy cheeks and Kara's cocky grin.

“What the hell, Kara?!” Lena bellowed as she returned to the living room and threw the first aid kit at her guest.

“You think I did this?” Kara said with wide eyes. “I’m the one who came up with the plan to lie low!”

Lena frantically searched the site for any contact information and frantically dialed the number provided.

“What are you doing?” Kara asked as she rummaged through the kit.

“I’m calling the paper to tell them they’ve made a mistake.”

“Lena, don’t—”

“Or that we made a mistake—That they need to retract the article.” Lena said, dragging a hand through her hair in full panic mode.

“Put the phone down, Lena.” Kara said as the brunette took a deep breath before turning off her phone.

“Let’s just pull ourselves together first, okay?” She winced at the sanitizer burning in her little cuts and scrapes. “Then we can figure out the next steps.”

“Did you say your sister did this?” Lena finally processed the blonde’s words from earlier.

“More like I did it to myself,” Kara said with a sheepish grin on her face. “Alex normally reads the news before hitting the gym with me in the morning.”

“You go to the gym at seven every morning?” Lena asked, getting side tracked.

“More like five, and it’s not _every_ morning—we’re getting off topic.” Kara focused on wrapping various bandages around her hands while Lena sat heavily on the couch beside her. She massaged her temples in an attempt to get her brain to process everything that had happened that morning and formulate a plan of action now that their previous one had been shot to hell.

“Okay, what’s changed? We’re back in National City, opposite sides of a major case…” She trailed off when realization hit her like a freight train. “Okay, whatever we may or may not do in the future, our best bet for right now—”

“I agree.” Kara said, leaning against the back of the luxurious couch.

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“It’s the only thing we can do, until the case is over at least.”

Lena nodded when she realized Kara had indeed come to the same conclusion, “We should go all in and appear married to salvage whatever is left of our reputations and careers.”

Kara stiffened by her side, but Lena didn’t give it a passing thought before diving right back into the origin of her…uh, wife’s injuries. That was going to take some getting used to.

“What happened at the gym?”

“Oh, you know,” Kara smiled and rearranged the ice pack on her shoulder. “Alex was very upset that I didn’t tell her about being married.”

“And then…?” Lena prompted.

“Well, we got to talking about my job, and your job, and maybe the past a little bit,” Kara paused to wince at her own stupidity. “I gotta tell you, those Crows Security agents are really something. That throw came out of nowhere.”

“Nu-uh.” Lena said, pointing an accusatory finger at the blonde, “No changing the subject.”

“Yeah, you should probably know some things…but we have an very important issue to resolve before then.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” Lena asked with a raised brow.

“Your place or mine?”

Six hours later and Kara’s essentials had been transported from Chinatown to the tech district with the help of Jack and Jess.

Jack dropped the last box in the hall between the two bedrooms and leaned nonchalantly against the doorway of Lena’s bedroom to admire their handiwork. The guest bedroom and second office had been striped down and their previous contents sent into storage.

“I'm so proud of you.” He told his friend. “Not putting a lock on your door or anything.”

“Very funny, Jack.” Lena was preoccupied in deep cleaning her already immaculate apartment before her new...wife arrived. She was still getting used to that word.

“I’m just saying,” he continued, “There’s plenty of room in that king sized bed for both of you. Could’ve saved me a day of packing and labeling.”

“Wishful thinking on your part.” Lena’s carefully crafted joke died in her throat as a knock sounded at the door.

Jack raced to the door with a huge grin on his face and threw it open to find Kara standing there with a few bags draped across her shoulders and a large box in her arms.

“Hi!” She beamed at him, “I’m the wife.”

“Honey!” Jack called into the apartment with a mischievous grin, “Your wife is home!”

“You’re having way too much fun with this.” Jess chastised him as she arrived by Kara’s side with a box of her own.

Jess insisted on staying to help the pair settle in, and Lena knew there was no way Jack would leave before getting all the jokes out of his system. She led the blonde through the spacious apartment, pointing out as much as she could to get the initial awkwardness out of the way as soon as humanly possible.

“This is your room. The closet and wardrobe are empty. I put an iron in there, feel free to use it whenever you want—preferably every morning.”

“Back to your old self, I see.” Kara laughed as she dropped her luggage on the bed before following Lena down the hall.

“Bathroom’s in here. There’s a door and a lock, please use it.”

“Guess our days of showering together are over.” Kara said with a wink to Jess who turned beat red at the image. Jack tried to save face for Lena, but some things just can’t be helped.

“I tried to tell her you didn’t need separate rooms.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I left the handcuffs at my apartment.”

“Not to worry, I have it on good authority that she has her own.”

Lena rolled her eyes and Jess gave her a sympathetic look. Having both of these knuckleheads in the same room was clearly not a good idea, they seemed to feed off each other’s chaotic energy.

“Can I look through your kitchen?” Kara asked, “I wasn’t sure what all I’d need to bring.”

“She cooks?” Jack said with delight, “You never mentioned that in all your pining.”

“Fine.” Lena said, pinching the bridge of her nose before dragging Jess with her into her home office to get some work done before their court date tomorrow.

“Jack,” Kara whispered in a panic as soon as the door slammed shut behind the two women, “Where the fuck is her liquor cabinet?”

“No worries,” Jack laughed at her deer-in-the-headlights look before pulling a bottle of bourbon out of his bag by the kitchen table. This girl might’ve thought she had his friend all figured out, but she was certainly in for a rude awakening over the next few days. “I’m on your side, by the way.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Wednesday**

Kara entered Lena’s—no, their—apartment hesitantly. She had insisted that she needed to run by her office that morning for a file she had forgotten, but the brunette had seen right through her lie. She had promised to return in an hour, but the bus was late and even the taxis had trouble navigating the busy streets.

Now they had maybe an hour to get to the courthouse clear across town and she was certain Lena would be glaring at her as soon as she noticed her return. She turned the corner and found her wife sitting at the counter scrolling through her emails with her bag ready to go by her side. She had actually waited for her so they could drive over together just like she promised. It was the little nudge of kindness she needed to complete her morning task.

“We’re going to be late,” Lena said, but showed no sign of launching into a scathing reprimand for the delay.

“Sorry, but, uh…Hmm. Is that what you’re wearing?” She asked with a tilt of the head as she gestured to Lena's navy suit.

“Yes.” Her wife replied in a clipped tone. Kara knew from experience that she was milliseconds away from ripping her a new one and pointing out every stain and wrinkle in her shirt.

“No, no, it looks great…” She gave her another once-over and screwed up her face for effect. “It’s just, I don’t know, I think something’s missing.”

“Really? And what would you possibly—”

Lena’s sarcastic reply dropped as Kara produced a small velvet box from her jacket pocket and set it open on the counter so they could see the rings sitting side by side within. Two simple bands both inlaid with accent diamonds and a central stone of either sapphire or emerald.

“We’re married, remember?” Kara said with some hesitance. Lena’s gaze was still locked on the box before her and it wasn’t clear if she was still breathing. “We have to make it look like we mean it… even if we don’t.”

Lena looked into her eyes and Kara immediately knew she had done a terrible job of hiding her emotions for that last bit.

“H-How did, uh, how did you know my ring size?”

“Ah, yeah,” Kara straightened in confidence; this was an easy question. Knowing what sort of ring her wife would like and what metals she was allergic to? Now, that would’ve needed quite a bit of explanation and possibly some lying to cover up some light hacking Winn had taught her over the phone. “Combo of Jack and Jess.”

“Uh, um, is—is this one yours?” Lena tentatively pointed at the emerald ring like it might jump out of the box and bite her. Kara nodded, picking the sapphire band from the box for Lena.

“Do you want me to do it?” she asked, gesturing to Lena’s hand.

She didn’t respond, but lifted her left hand for Kara to slide the ring neatly into place. She watched as Lena admired the ring on her finger, as if the object was some sort of alien invention.

“It matches your eyes.”

Kara chuckled at the obviousness of her statement and picked up the emerald band to place on her own finger. If she knew it was this easy to make Lena speechless, she would’ve done it a lot sooner.

“I, uh… Can I do it?” Lena asked as she stopped the blonde’s movements. Kara passed over the emerald ring and let her wife slide the ring onto her left hand. The instant she felt it fall into place, she knew she would never be taking it off no matter what happened between them.

“Now we can fool anyone.” She told Lena to break the silence between them. She turned back to the door and grabbed her bag so she wouldn’t have to explain her glassy eyes and the most inconvenient lump in her throat.

Their first day back in court as a married couple had gone about as well as Kara could’ve hoped. Winn and Mike had already been warned several times by court security to behave themselves before their lawyers had even arrived, Judge Grant had thrown no less than five rowdy guests out of the back, and Lena had dubbed her an ‘uncultured swine’ within the first ten minutes of her opening statement. The return to normal was comforting, like nothing had change between them.

“My client is the primary reason the high school football league even exists in Mapleville and the nine neighboring cities,” Lena argued, “all of whom have Mr. Matthews to thank for their booming economy.”

“Objection, Your Honor,” Kara stood to address the judge, “You really expect us to believe a bi-weekly football game is responsible for the economic success of towns that were established well before either man was even born?”

“Your Honor, I’m merely pointing out that the towns were rather isolated before my client’s contribution.”

“Yeah,” Winn’s voice called out the back, “now he has a dicks and hoes in all three area codes!”

“That’s enough, Mr. Schott.” Judge Cat warned.

“Oh, so he can bring that up,” Mike replied, clearly ignoring the judge’s warning and steely gaze, “But no one’s going to talk about his little pay for play?”

The crowded gallery burst into chaos. A story had broke over the weekend of Winn's frequent visits to a house of ill-repute—a, well...it was a sex dungeon.

“It’s not sexual, you little twink!” Winn called back, but the security guards were already closing in.

“Twink?! I can bench press you!”

Mike vaulted over the table and Winn advanced from his side, but the guards were hot on their trail and soon both men were escorted back to their seat and handcuffed to their own chairs. Kara turned to check on Lena, only now realizing that she had stepped in front of her when Mike lost his cool.

“All right, all right!” Cat bellowed from the bench, striking her gavel several times, but the crowd of spectators didn’t seem to care, “Quiet back there or I’ll throw you all out of my courtroom!”

“Will you call for a recess?” Lena whispered to her. “This is going no where.”

“Agreed. Lunch?”

In the end, Kara didn’t get a chance to request a break from Cat before the judge dismissed the lot of them. Mike had exploded yet again at one of Winn’s comments, this time breaking the chair completely. Jess passed her a note as the bailiff led Mike back to the holding cell.

‘Thai or Mexican?’ Kara read to herself before quickly circling one and passing it back to the assistant. Well, maybe not entirely the same.

**Thursday**

Lena passed over her last precious napkin before sending a quick text to Jess asking her to bring the bag of emergency clothes with her to the courthouse. They were sitting on the courthouse steps again for lunch, but she immediately knew Kara’s choice of falafel for lunch was a horrible idea.

The blonde was standing in a fighting stance, oscillating back and forth on the balls of her feet before delivering an impressive combination of strikes with her falafel in hand. She was demonstrating a new set of moves Alex had shown her that morning for the next charity match.

“It’s all in the jab,” she said, the concentration forcing her expression into a deadly glare. “A classic misdirection move, but it’s the double blind return that makes it difficult to execute without tipping your hand.”

Lena had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She was much too focused on admiring the woman’s arms flexing under hastily rolled sleeves, the sun shining through golden locks, and the blessedly tight dress slacks showing off all her wife’s best assets.

Kara paused in her demonstration to lament the second round of stains appearing on her slacks from the tahini sauce.

“Damn it,” she swore, falling back to her seat next to Lena who dissolved into giggles. This is exactly why she insisted on putting the bag of spare clothes in the car at the start of the week.

“So I take it that you and Alex are back to normal?”

“Normal is a relative term,” Kara tried to evade, but relented at the brunette’s no-nonsense look, “but yes, we’ve worked it out thus far.”

“What happened between you two? I at least have the excuse of my brother murdering people and testing chemical weapons. Somehow I find it difficult to believe that Alex would do anything like that.”

“Gods, no,” Kara looked horrified at the mere suggestion that her sister would harm anyone without due cause, “It was my fault anyway. I was young and stupid.”

“Implying you’re not anymore?” Lena said with a raised brow before gesturing to the blonde’s futile attempts to get the sauce out of her slacks with nothing but a licked napkin.

“Very funny,” Kara said with a gentle nudge of her shoulder. “You should just get Alex to tell you what happened.”

“Let me get this straight. You’re too scared to properly introduce me to your sister, but you’re totally fine with me ambushing her on my own.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kara mumbled with a dejected look, “that’s probably a horrible idea.”

“By the way,” Lena said, changing the subject, “I’ll be home late tonight. I have an old friend coming from out of town.”

“Oh! Was this the possible expansion you were talking about?”

Lena nodded and began explaining the difficulties in merging two law firms, let alone if she wanted to actually go through with it. She was pleasantly surprised by Kara’s sound judgment and her experience of working for numerous firms as a pass-through before hanging her own shingle.

They laughed and joked about their times as young, upstart lawyers in the world through the entire recess. She barely even noticed when a few lawyers here and there stumbled on the steps as they realized it was Lena Luthor laughing and sitting on the dirty steps in her designer skirt while eating street food.

**Sunday**

“You’re up, my dear,” Kara said, handing her a glass of deep red wine.

“You’re just going to keep trying pet names until one sticks, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps,” she teased before settling onto the wide patio chaise next to Lena.

The brunette taped her fingers against the chair absentmindedly as she thought of something to tell her wife that no one else might be able to guess about her. It had become a little game of theirs, trying to trip up one another with a classic game of two truths and a lie. A bit juvenile to be sure, but never failed to break the ice and ease any awkward tension between them.

“I got kicked out of two boarding schools… I was an accomplished ballerina in college… My favorite band in high school was The Beach Boys.”

Kara looked at her with wide eyes for a bit before she started contemplating her choices. There were all equally unbelievable for what she had learned thus far about the woman. She quite enjoyed this game of theirs and if anyone asked, she would never admit to keeping a list of the most interesting of her wife’s confessions for future adventures.

“You’re far too dedicated a student to be kicked out of a fancy boarding school once, let alone twice,” she reasoned as Lena simply sipped her wine. The woman had a deadly poker face and she had learned early on to never gamble with her over anything. “But then again, I know you finished your undergrad a semester early so there wouldn’t have been much time for ballet.”

“I never specified it was undergrad.” Lena pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m calling bullshit on the ballet.” Kara’s mouth dropped open as the brunette confirmed her guess to be correct. “Oh my god! Your favorite band was The Beach Boys!?”

“That’s what you’re focusing on? Not what I did to get kicked out of _two_ boarding schools?” She laughed as Kara started frantically scrolling though something on her phone. “What are you even doing?”

She recognized the opening notes of Kokomo coming from Kara’s phone before her sentence ended. In a breath, the blonde had snatched her glass of wine and placed them safely on the table before insisting Lena should get up and dance with her.

“I am not going to dance with you.” Lena insisted, but Kara was already swaying to the beat like she had flown them across the country to their own private beach.

She resisted for a few moments, but her resolve broke as Kara lifted Lena’s arm and somehow managed to twirl herself. She laughed at the blonde’s antics as the obnoxious saxophone blared out into the cool night. Lena allowed herself to be lead around the spacious patio balcony and even performed a twirl or two of her own before Kara pulled her close with both hands on her hips.

Lena’s arms traveled across the blonde’s broad shoulders and caressed her neck before resting lightly with her thumbs on her collarbones. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she loved Kara’s spontaneity and endless curiosity. She looked up to find Kara looking at her like she was the last remaining star in the sky as the last notes faded to silence.

“Your turn.” Lena said with a smile before heading back to their seat blaming the heat in her cheeks on the wine. The wine was indeed exquisite and Lena held it responsible for more than a few lapses in judgment that night…even if they only managed to drink half a glass each before retiring to Lena’s king-sized bed for the evening.

**Monday**

“Morning, Agent Danvers.”

“Morning,” Alex replied automatically. She entered the atrium with her eyes glued to the tablet in her hand. She’d definitely have to rearrange these teams for the Senator’s speech tomorrow.

“Your ten o’clock is waiting in your office.”

That stopped Alex in her tracks. Hailey hadn’t mentioned anything about a meeting on Saturday, and she knew for a fact that there was no email about the meeting in her inbox. That being said, she was the gatekeeper for their five-office corridor. Perhaps she had gotten her confused with one of the other agents.

“I don’t have a ten o’clock. Who’s in my office?” Alex asked with crossed arms.

“Lena Luthor. Your sister’s wife.” Hailey quickly back peddled as she watched her boss go into high alert mode. She frantically searched through the various files on her desk until she found the dossier on the lawyer and handed it over.

“Her secretary called last night and had this sent over first thing. Everything checks out, analytics ran standard background checks and gave me the green light. She made it through security so I figured she was fine to wait in your office.”

Alex visibly relaxed at the woman’s words, but it still unnerved her that someone could make it to her office without her knowing anything about it. She’d have to talk to her about security.

“It’s fine, Hailey. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Alex reassured the woman before trying to lighten the mood a little, “Maybe next time lead with the dossier and put it on the calendar?”

“I think it’s a personal meeting,” She replied barely above a whisper as she leaned across the space between them.

Alex rolled her eyes and stalked off towards her office door. Of fucking course Kara would make her deal with this shit. She entered without even looking at the woman and went straight for the box of what appeared to be printer paper on top of the filing cabinet.

“Macallan or Glenfiddich?” She asked the stately woman.

“Dealer’s choice.”

Alex lifted the lid and produced a half-empty bottle of Macallan and two glasses before pouring them each two fingers worth of the golden liquid.

“So,” Lena continued as Alex handed her a glass, “I hear you beat up my wife.”

“I hear you married my sister.”

“What happened at the midsummer festival?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I got married, you?”

“Same thing.”

“Then why is it the only thing I can get Kara to tell me about your falling out?”

“Who said we had a falling out?”

“What else would you call not speaking to her for a year?”

Touché. Alex leaned back in her chair and sipped her drink. The woman before her did the same. Their little opening gambit had decidedly gone to the Luthor.

“I got married, then I got divorced,” Alex said, observing her glass, “happens to a lot of people.”

“Most of them don’t go radio silent and ignore their siblings.”

“How many siblings don’t side with their sister?”

Now it was Lena’s turn to back down. The brunette tilted her head and crossed her legs, getting more comfortable in her leather chair.

“From what Kara tells me, you’re a smart woman,” Alex said, “I’m sure you can put the pieces together.”

“Indeed.” Lena said before swirling her drink a bit. “You and…?”

“Maggie.”

“You and Maggie get married and it’s fine for a year or so—”

“18 months.”

“Then something sours and you get divorced—amicably, I assume?”

“No lawyers needed aside from the paperwork.” Alex concurred with a nod.

“But she sides with this Maggie person because…” Lena paused to rack her brain as she struggled to find a cause for separation that would make Kara choose Maggie over her own sister. A sister she practically worshiped. “It had to be something we call an irreconcilable challenge, something black and white because Kara—”

“Kara’s entire life is painted in shades of gray.” Alex nodded before elaborating. “I wanted kids, Maggie didn’t. Not a whole lot of gray area there to work with.”

“Interesting.” Lena mused. “Kara doesn’t seem like the type to—”

“The issue itself wasn’t the problem,” Alex explained with a pained expression. “She thought I was giving up and refusing to work through the problem.”

“Well, there was nothing you could do about that particular problem.” Lena said before taking another sip of her drink and looking closer at Alex. There was something else there, something that would’ve accounted for the bulk of the weight before Kara placed that final straw on top and toppled the whole thing.

“How many people thought you were the adopted one growing up?”

“Think.” Alex mumbled, “It’s present tense.”

“I think I can fill in the rest.” Lena said before finishing off her drink and placing the empty glass on Alex’s desk. The agent smiled and downed what was left of her own glass.

“Look, I know we’ve just met, but I can already tell that Kara really looks up to you—I'm aware this is nothing new to you.”

“Don’t try to butter me up now,” Alex warned with a chuckle, “I’ll have to give you the ‘don’t hurt my sister’ talk and that would just be embarrassing for the both of us.”

“How so?” Lena asked as they got to their feet and headed for the door.

“I’m pretty sure you’re older than me.” Alex said as she rubbed the back of her neck, just as Lena had seen Kara do more times than she could count.

“Only by six months.” Lena laughed. The door to the atrium buzzed open when Hailey saw them approach, and Alex was kind enough to hold the door open for her, but disappeared back into the hall of offices with nothing more than a wave and a passing, “Later, Luthor. See you at Fight Night.”

Normally Lena would have flinched at the name, would have turned on her heel and glared at the fool, would’ve insisted they never say her last name again if they were going to spit it out like some thing vile.

But she was almost too stunned to move as she registered Alex's tone of voice. She didn’t even know that her last name could sound like an endearment.

**Tuesday**

Lena returned to her apartment after the longest day she had experienced in quite some time. She was certain that the merger was for the best, but sometimes it took all her patience to deal with the stress and distrust of people she didn’t actually hire. Sam definitely owed her the biggest favor, or more like an endless list of favors to be honest.

“I can’t live a lie, running for my life, I will always want you…”

Kara’s voice sung out into the empty apartment while Lena stood frozen in the doorway with her hand still on the key and a dumbstruck look on her face. She quietly closed the door behind her and tiptoed around the corner to look into the kitchen. There was Kara, hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, towel hanging from her shoulder, and a sink full of suds before her.

“I came in like a wrecking ball!” She belt out, filling the empty apartment, spatula poised as a microphone in her hand. Her eyes were shut, but she was still dancing around the kitchen with grand gestures in her splotched apron like she was walking the boards of a Broadway stage. “I never hit so hard in love!”

Lena stood there, eyes wide and a wide smile slowly pulling across her face. Damn, the woman could sing. She leaned against the wall near the entrance of the kitchen, but Kara had yet to notice a visitor in her midst as she went back to scrubbing pots and pans at the sink.

Kara almost banned her from the kitchen when she placed a copper saucepan in the dishwasher their first weekend together. From then on her top-of-the-line pots and pans were always relegated to the sink and returned to their pristine condition every night.

She turned from the sink to place the pot in its hiding place and nearly dropped it on the floor as she registered her wife leaning against the wall with a crooked smile on her face. She quickly replaced the pot and pulled the headphones from her ears.

“I-I, uh, I made d-dinner,” she said, turning beat red as Lena’s smile turned into a bout of giggles, “I finally got that Paella recipe down, the vegan one Diana sent me, but I couldn’t get the spice down—I’m sorry, I used the impossible sausage—It’s vegan, I promise—It was cooling and I thought I’d get a head start on the dishes—I can make you something else if you hate it or it’s gross or—”

“Kara?” She asked with a raised brow.

“Stop talking?” The blonde wrung her hands under the guise of drying them off on the towel.

She never would’ve believed a nervous or uncertain Kara existed under all the bravado until they started living together. Whenever Lena managed to truly surprise her she turned into a bumbling mess.

“Yeah,” Lena replied and dissolved into a fit of giggles remembering the grown woman dancing around the kitchen with a spatula microphone. “I didn’t know you could sing.”

“Everyone can sing.” Kara said with a confused brow.

“Not like that.” Lena insisted as she moved to set her bag down before collapsing into the nearest chair.

“Rough day?” Kara asked as she drained the sink and started setting out plates for dinner. She handed Lena a bottle of red wine from the rack and the brunette took up the task of uncorking and pouring their glasses. If she happened to pour a little more than normal, Kara wasn’t about to call her on it.

“ _Long_ day.” Lena replied before noticing the clock above the sink. “Is it really after ten?”

“Yep.” Kara said right before her stomach let out the loudest rumble Lena had ever heard. “Sorry…”

“You could’ve eaten without me,” Lena chastised. The first thing she ever learned living with the blonde was she needed to eat every two hours or there was a serious risk of her turning into the Hulk.

“I, uh, kind of did,” Kara said with a sheepish grin on her face. “Tell me about the merger.”

“I’ll tell you what I can, but you know the drill.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kara said before digging into her meal, “I just want to hear about your day.”

She was always surprised at how easy it was talking to Kara after their false starts in the past. She seemed genuinely interested in her work and the business of running L-Corp. Lena often wondered if she was secretly gauging the pros and cons of running a law firm of her own.

It was even easier to listen to Kara’s numerous misadventures throughout the day. Cases they both worked were obviously off limits, but she had no idea just how many cases the blonde accepted each week. The sheer number of pro-bono cases she insisted on taking always stuck her as odd for such a talented lawyer, but her rationale was sound.

They had been discussing one of her latest cases when she explained the process to Lena; some cases pay the bills, but the rest are about putting a little good out into the world. After that conversation, Lena had insisted bringing the practice to the lawyers at her firm. With a little negotiation she was able to get almost every lawyer on board, but the results were absolutely astounding. Sam admitted it was the tipping point that made her pitch the merger in the first place.

**Friday**

It was the longest Friday or her entire career, but the merger between L-Corp and Dynasty Legal had finally been set in stone. It was a merger between equals, but Sam insisted that they keep the L-Corp name much to Lena’s surprise. After the papers had been signed, they both returned to Lena’s apartment only to find the place deserted and a note on the counter.

Lena took one look at the note before laughing at her wife and friend’s antics. Sam walked over to get a look at the note herself and almost had the same reaction. The important bits were in Kara’s handwriting, but Jack had left various notes and jokes on every available space.

Lena—

We’re at the charity Fight Night (Your girl’s arms put mine to shame! How do you not drool all over them?), but I know you had to work late (Party pooper). If you decided to come (Get your gay ass over here), feel free to invite Sam (She needs to find a date anyway). If they won’t let you in, just name-drop Alex Danvers and you should be fine (Ooooh Have you even met Alex yet? YIKES). I love you. (Me too!!!)

—Kara

P.S. Sorry about Jack (No she’s not)

“Is your life even real?” Sam asked as she dropped the note on the counter.

“It’s certainly something,” Lena groaned. She should probably just insist they stay in and relax after their fifteen-hour day, but she was actually quite curious to see Kara boxing against a real opponent.

“So you’ll let me raid your closet, right?” Sam asked as she made a beeline down the hallway with an excited look on her face.

“What about Ruby?” Lena asked in alarm. Apparently she didn’t get to make any decisions at all tonight.

“I didn’t know how late I would be so I paid the sitter for the night.” Sam called from inside Lena’s bedroom. “Where’s your wife’s stuff, she’s taller than you, right?”

“In the guest room,” Lena said without thinking, but stopped as Sam’s questioning look. She tried to back peddle as fast as possible. “I, uh, I have too much in the closet and she needed space—for the iron.”

“Was this a shotgun wedding? Lena, you scoundrel,” Sam asked with a knowing smile before disappearing into Kara’s immaculate and thoroughly unused bedroom.

“Just shut up and get dressed!” Lena shouted before disappearing into her own closet. At the very least she’d be able to tag Sam back by introducing her to the formidable Alex Danvers. Kara even mentioned that Sara Lance might drop by for a round or two. They would be sure to drag her down to their level and beat her with experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry (again) for the delay in updates. I have no excuse, just work getting in the way...
> 
> But to make up for it I'll write a 1,000 word fic of whatever you want to the first person who guesses which plot point in this chapter was based on my life :D  
> (Prize has already been won)


	11. Chapter 11

Lena was glad she didn’t get wear heels as they reached the firehouse three blocks away from her apartment. She honestly had no idea how Sam was still standing let alone strutting down the sidewalk in a borrowed skirt that barely covered the woman’s thighs. The prospect of meeting some men and women with broad shoulders and strong arms was clearly having an effect on the tall woman.

“I can’t believe you insisted on wearing that.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Sam said with a smirk.

“Nothing, but it certainly sends a message.” Lena groaned at Sam’s utter lack of shame.

“As long as that message isn’t ‘single, overworked mother of a 12 year old’ I couldn’t care less.”

Apparently Sam was on the prowl tonight and nothing Lena said was going to stop her.

“Besides,” the tall woman continued, “I doubt your wife will complain about my lovely outfit choice for you.”

“Because I’m wearing her leather jacket?” Lena asked with a raised brow.

“No, because those jeans are pratically painted on.” Sam quipped back with a wink. Lena suddenly remembered why she stopped going to parties with her after their first year of law school together. “Is this the place?”

The firehouse where the charity event was taking place could better be described as vacant manufacturing plant. Due to the proclivity of the tech corridor’s resident businesses to set their own buildings on fire, the companies pooled funds to ensure there was a truck or two always stationed within range. A simple sign painted on the side of the brick building announced they had indeed arrived with an impressive guard blocking the main entrance.

“Names, ladies?”

“Lena Luthor here for Kara Danvers.” She told the guard who appeared to have more muscles than his neck would allow.

“Kara Danvers already checked in with her guest for the evening.” He said and lowered the clipboard to give them a suspicious look.

“That’s fine,” Sam chimed in without hesitation, “Alex Danvers said I could bring a friend with me.”

“I bet she did.” He said with an impressive eye roll, but dutifully radioed to another man inside asking the older Danvers to come check them in herself.

“For fuck’s sake, Herald,” Alex said as she threw open the door, “This better be good—oh.”

“You know these women, ma’am?” Herald gestured first to Lena in her skintight jeans and jacket before swiveling to Sam in her too-short skirt and backless top. Lena and Sam shared a satisfied smirk when they noticed the agent visibly gulp.

“Yep, they’re with me.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am.”

“Shut up.” Alex smacked the back of his head, and gestured for the women to follow her into the building. “Let’s go, Luthor.”

“So this is the mysterious sister Jack mentioned?” Sam whispered as Alex led them through a hallway to the open floor.

“Yes, what about it?” Lena clipped with a glare.

“Nothing, just interesting.” At the brunette’s continued glare, Sam continued with an exasperated sigh, “She has last name privileges? _Jack_ doesn’t even have last name privileges.”

“I think it’s because I didn’t treat it like a curse word.” Alex interrupted as the reached the door and Sam turned scarlet at having been overheard so easily. “Welcome to Fight Night.”

It was the most organized chaos that Lena had ever witnessed. Random strangers and National City notables milled about the wide-open concrete floor surrounding a small square of padded mats taped to the floor. A set of bleachers had been brought in and assembled for better viewing and a make-shift bar had been erected out of plywood and beer kegs.

The whole atmosphere read as ‘illegal street fight,’ but there were subtle hints and clues that this was truly a high-class affair. Bartenders wore uniformed tuxedo shirts and poured complex drinks into glasses while servers milled about with plates of hors d’oeuvres. Everyone wore street wear similar to Lena and Sam, but the quality of the material indicated the price tags were in the hundreds, if not thousands.

She could identify the president of Star Analytics talking to the CFO of AWM News. The owner of Atlantic Capitol waited by the bar for her drink while the CEO of Cyborg Enterprises shoved a hundred dollar bill into the tip jar. There had to have been a collective net worth of a billion dollars in the room just from the people she could identify.

Alex dutifully walked them over to the bar where Jack was chatting up a pair of stunning women clearly too young for him.

“What are you up to, Jack?” Lena asked as Alex walked off towards the mats with Sam close behind.

“Enjoying a night of philanthropy, of course,” Jack turned to her and gave her a big hug, causing the young women to walk off in search of a better catch. “I didn’t think you’d make it!”

“We signed the papers two hours ago,” she laughed, happy to join in on her friend’s excitement. “We got your guys’ letter and Sam wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“She’s on the hunt I see.” Jack nodded in the general direction of the ring and Lena turned to find Alex introducing her friend to a few boxers warming up. “So… did you actually read the note?”

“Yes,” Lena said with a furrowed brow, “That’s why we’re here. How many drinks have you had?”

“Just curious,” Jack played it cool. “Wanted to make sure you got all my lovely little notes.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m a kid at heart. Anyway, how’s domestic bliss treating you?” Jack turned back to the bar to order Lena’s usual for her.

“It’s a steep learning curve, that’s for sure.” Lena admitted. “Did you know Kara could sing?”

“She can what?” Jack asked in shock before noticing a very tall man step up to the bar behind Lena. “Hey, man!”

Lena turned to find one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. It must be something about his smile, she reasoned as Jack introduced them.

“Lena, this is the reporter that did that exposé on my project last week. James Olsen, this is—”

“I know who you are,” James cut him off, “You’re Kara’s wife. Lena Luthor, right?”

“Uh, yes, pleasure to meet you.” Lena said as she struggled to place why his face seemed so familiar to her. It must be something with Kara, as he clearly knew her. Maybe in one of the numerous photos her wife brought to the apartment?

“How is she?” He asked, “I haven’t seen her in years.”

“She’s good…” Lena hesitated, finally placing the face to the framed photo of Kara and him snuggling together watching fireworks together. Kara had fallen asleep on his shoulder and James was making a funny face to the camera with his arm around her.

“I’m sure,” he chuckled at his own memories, “bundle of energy, hopelessly optimistic, slightly overconfident, on a mission to save the world?”

“I’m sorry,” Lena deflected, “How is it you know Kara again?”

“Oh, we were engaged for a little.”

Lena’s eyes widened a fraction, but she managed to keep her cool. Jack, on the other hand, snorted into his drink and managed to spill most of it down his arm.

“But, really,” James continued, “does anyone really _know_ Kara?”

“Indeed.” Lena said, forcing a saccharine smile onto her face.

“Well, I guess you do.” He said with such genuine happiness that Lena almost felt bad for the jealous thoughts running rampant through her head. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thank you.” Lena said, her cheeks coloring in shame. “Will you excuse me?”

She didn’t wait for an answer before walking off in search of the younger Danvers sister. How had this never come up between them? During all their conversations over dinner, lunch, TV shows, movies, car rides…? What else could she be keeping from her? More importantly, why the hell did she suddenly feel like this was any of her business in the first place? Weren’t they going to just get a divorce as soon as Mike’s god-forsaken case got settled?

She finally managed to sift through all the wealthy spectators to find the Danvers sisters sitting on one of the lower seats of the bleacher, heads tilted in quiet conversation as they prepared for their upcoming turn in the ring. Kara noticed her first and Lena could see the joy blossom across her face. She absolutely hated that the blonde’s smile had a near perfect track record of coaxing out a smile of her own. Absolutely hated it.

“You came!” Kara stood up to be at eye level with her.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t?” Lena said with a coy smile.

“Honestly, I thought it was 70/30. I know the merger’s been rough, but I figured you couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see these guns in action.” Kara flexed her arms for effect, and oh, boy, what an effect it had.

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Alex said with a green face. Kara at least had the decency to look guilty, but Lena’s thoughts were still focused elsewhere.

“So what do you think of Fight Night so far?”

Kara’s question jarred her from her inappropriate daydream and sent her sprawling back onto the topic that caused her to search out the blonde in the first place.

“Actually, Jack just introduced me to one of your old _friends_ at the bar.” Lena tried her best not to put too much inflection on the word, but Kara saw right through it. “James Olsen?”

“I didn’t know Jimmy was here.” She said and Lena immediately deflated a bit as her wife stood a little taller and searched the room for her ex-fiancé.

“Yes, um… you two were engaged?”

“Just for six months,” Kara argued before stopping in her search to give Lena her undivided attention at the heavy tone lacing her question. “Lena…are you jealous?”

“No.” Lena clipped.

“You are.”

“Why do you look so giddy about that?”

Kara looked at her for a long moment, head cocked to the side, smile a bit lopsided, but eyes shining with mirth.

“You know I’ve been with other women, Lena. I’ve been with guys in the past, too. But, then again, so have you—at least with women, from what I’ve gathered.”

She placed her gloved hands on Lena's shoulders to stop her from interrupting and waited for their eyes to meet.

“There’s one massive, critical thing you’ve overlooked. I didn’t marry any of them. I married you.”

“I guess that is a very important point considering we were both too drunk to remember the ceremony.”

Kara let out a deep sigh, but relented and dropped her hands.

“I have to stand with Alex now,” the blonde told her, smile still firmly in place, but Lena could tell there was less brightness about it, “but I really think you should consider why James of all people made you feel jealous in the first place, hmm?”

She left with nothing more to be said and Lena was immensely thankful that Jack showed up not a moment later with a drink.

“For your thirst...uh, trouble in paradise?” He asked with a hesitant expression when Lena didn't so much as roll her eyes at his terrible joke. “If it’s any consolation, I had no idea.”

“It’s all right, Jack. It just caught me off guard, that’s all.” Lena said, watching her wife shake out her arms and legs while Alex did the same beside her. Jack didn’t have to know that she was referring to her own jealous thoughts more than Kara’s engagement history.

“Esteemed guests, it’s that time again!” cried a tall man in a loud voice from the middle of the designated fighting space. “It’s the final bout of the evening, so make sure you’ve got those checkbooks open and ready to go. Any server or bartender is fully qualified to take your money and run with it.”

A ripple of laughter crossed the crowd slowly gathering around the mats. Lena glanced about and noticed she was one of the few people not holding out a check for the nearest server to collect. Jack passed her one of his own with a wink before the checks disappeared into the server’s hands.

“Let’s give a warm round of applause to our celebrity guest for the evening, world champion MMA fighter, Sara Lance!”

Lena could barely recognize the woman stepping onto the mats due to the padded helmet obscuring most of her face. She noticed Kara and Alex stepping onto the mats with a similar get up, which surprised her a little. At least their faces wouldn't get too beat-up.

“Stepping up to the beat down is our very own Alex Danvers of Crows Security. But that’s not all folks—Sara has graciously agreed to let Alex bring a civilian into the ring to help her out.”

“I’d like to challenge our guests, if you don’t mind?” Sara asked the announcer, who promptly gave her the floor. “If I win, I will donate my full amount as usual, but seeing as this is a twofer… I’ll double my donation if I lose. I encourage the audience to do the same.”

“There you have it, folks. One million dollars to the National City Food Bank and Shelter Alliance is on the line here for the Dynamic Danvers Duo!”

Lena laughed out loud at the nickname, but the cheers of the executive crowd around her drowned it out.

“No hitting below the belt or behind the head. And keep those feet on the floor; this is boxing for crying out loud. I want a clean fight from you three…. Let’s dance!”

Human cockfighting. That’s what she was watching right now. And when Kara sunk into her typical fighting stance there was no excuse for the way her heartbeat launched into the stratosphere, or the way her body heat decided to rival the surface of the sun.

This should not be doing things to her; she regularly watched her workout with the punching bag hastily set up in their living room over coffee each morning for crying out loud. But here she was, simultaneously cursing and blessing the too-tight jeans that Sam had all but forced her to wear.

The happy-go-lucky Kara she knew from breakfast practice, chatting about her plans for the day or working through the difficulties of a case, was gone. This was truly the ‘Supergirl’ that she had heard so much of in Mapleville.

While Alex was the primary strategist, ducking and weaving with Sara, Kara was clearly the powerhouse of the duo. She noticed the pattern after Alex managed to set Sara up and force her into Kara’s line of fire. Lena swore the blow landed against her shoulder with a sonic blast that filled the space with silence as Sara struggled to right herself without falling to her knees.

“I thought Sara had fought her before.” Lena asked Jack, hoping her might have some insider information.

“No, Kara fought Alex that go around,” he said in equal astonishment at the raw power Kara was displaying on the mat. “Said she got her ass handed to her.”

“How is that even possible?” Lena asked as Kara screwed her heels into the mat once again to deliver another devastating blow to her opponent’s left shoulder. “She’s a tank.”

“Theoretically, if we never piss of the older Danvers, we’ll never have to find out.” Jack gulped.

The fight didn’t last much longer after Kara’s third hit landed. Sara dealt a significant number of hits to the Danvers sisters, but without the ability to use her kicks or take-downs, she really didn’t stand a chance against both of them. When Kara delivered the final blow to Sara’s exposed ribs, even Lena could tell she was holding back, the MMA fighter officially tapped out.

As the announcer declared their victory, Kara and Alex removed their helmets to properly congratulate Sara on a match well fought. Lena cringed at the bleeding cut above Kara’s eye, but poor Alex looked like she had been run over with the amount of cuts and bruising on her face. Even Sara was holding her arm awkwardly from Kara’s repeated blows to her shoulder.

The crowd died down soon after Sara reiterated her intent to double her donation, and congratulating the few she saw holding additional checks in the air. It was borderline prostitution at this point, but even Lena had to admit it was working. There’s no way the total haul for tonight was anything less than $10 million. She saw Kara pull on a National City Food Bank shirt before making her way in their direction.

“What’d you think?” She asked, posing as if she were in the middle of a photo shoot.

“Damn, Danvers. You two are kind of scary.” Jack exclaimed before Lena could even process her words.

Even in a god-awful orange t-shirt and a bandaged eye the woman was absolutely stunning. The slight glow of her skin from the fight was fading, but it left the blonde looking deliciously disheveled. The images screaming through Lena’s brain were doing absolutely nothing to ease the chills cascading down her back.

“Thanks,” Kara said with a satisfied smile, “I might’ve been showing off a little.”

“I think you should do it more often,” Jack said gesturing to his friend before Lena managed to cut him off with an elbow to the gut. “Anyway, I’m off. Have a nice night, ladies.”

They watched Jack head to the exit. In the short walk between them and the door, Jack managed to finish his drink, pick up a random woman, and call his driver.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be that smooth,” she lamented.

“You have your moments,” Lena said, unconsciously biting her lip. Kara’s eyes darted to the movement before returning to her gaze.

“I’d really like to kiss you right now,” Kara barely whispered.

“Mrs. Danvers,” Lena playfully teased, “where has all that bravado—”

Kara leaned down and captured her lips without further ado. Lena allowed her hands to wind themselves into the soft blonde hair at the nape of her wife’s neck. She always liked the gentle hum Kara made when she—

“Ahem…”

Kara groaned in frustration and Lena looked around her to find Alex standing behind them with a smirk on her face.

“Sorry to interrupt, but they're trying to clear everyone out. We’re gonna call it a night.” Alex said jabbing a thumb over her shoulder where Sara was shamelessly flirting with Sam, who seemed tickled pink to be the object of the world champion’s affections.

“We?” Kara asked with a raised brow and a truckload of sass.

“Just remind Sam to set her alarm. Good night!” Lena interjected to save face for the elder Danvers. If it also happened to be entirely self-serving in hastening their departure, well, that was just mere coincidence.

The blonde watched like a confused puppy as the three women head toward the exit.

“Hey, you don’t think Sam—?”

“Oh, no. Nope.” Lena declared, dragging her wife to the exit by her elbow. “The three of them in a room is more baggage than most major airlines handle in a week.”

“Add that to the list of things I never wanted to know about my sister.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is best enjoyed with a bottle of wine and/or a box of tissues...

“And not only did my client restore the building—indeed, saving a cultural icon for the town—he updated all wiring himself, turning the building into a smart home with a smaller carbon footprint than any other building in the region.”

Kara paced along the hardwood floor before the judge’s bench as she made her case. With their clients at an impasse regarding the house in Mapleville, Judge Grant had decided to take measures into her own hands. She would hear arguments for and against each client being awarded the house before handing down her decision. Then she would finally have some peace and quiet back in her courtroom.

“He reached out to the community, using his ties with the local school districts to bring solar power to the region—decreasing their dependence on coal by thirty percent and creating hundreds of jobs in a growing field.”

Kara turned with a satisfied smirk to her wife before gearing up for her final point, but Mike had other ideas.

“Yeah,” he drawled with an evil smile pulling at his lips, “He installed a sex room, too. You think that added any value to the house?”

“Fuck off!” Winn spat from the opposite side of the room. Judge Grant sounded the gavel, but the cheering in the gallery had already started and Kara knew she only had about a minute before her client would try to one-up his husband’s taunting.

“Mrs. Luthor,” Cat growled from the dais, “if you can’t or won’t gag him—”

“Your Honor,” Lena said, rounding the table with a sour look to Mike, “my client is only using that as an example. Renovations do not necessarily mean restoration. Who was consulted before all this technology was installed? Is the house even considered a historical icon anymore?”

It was officially two months since their decision to go along with the marriage they found themselves in and Lena was still at a loss for why she insisted on dithering in her feelings for the blonde for those five months before their trip to Mapleville. There was more excitement and fulfillment in her life than she could have ever dreamed of before.

Every Sunday meant breakfast in bed thanks to Kara’s inability to sleep past sunrise. Every Wednesday meant late nights at the shelters with a team of lawyers providing legal guidance and passing out hot meals. More time with Kara lead to more time with friends, tinkering in a workshop, cleaning up a park, gathering for karaoke and less time chained to her desk at work.

“And we’ve all bore witness to Mr. Schott’s ability to hack into almost anything with a circuit board. What’s to say the next owner or owners of the Mapleville estate won’t find themselves victims of his revenge fantasies?”

Lena clocked Kara jumping to her feet out of the corner of her eye, but quickly changed course before she could object.

“I’m not implying he will, Your Honor. I’m merely pointing out that while my client was working hard to pay for these numerous renovations, his husband’s activities at home might not have been entirely humanitarian in their purpose considering the full list of additions to the structure.”

“If you’re implying that fidelity is the root of the issue,” Kara chimed in as she moved to join Lena before the judge, “I can happily provide evidence of Mr. Matthew’s various dalliances.”

Both women turned at the sound of a Mike’s chair scraping against the floor and a pencil snapping in Winn’s hand, but the men remained silent for once.

“What is the relevance of this, Mrs. Luthor?” Judge Grant asked.

“I’m suggesting that Mr. Schott doesn’t deserve to be awarded a three million dollar estate because he installed some speakers and bought solar panels for the school.”

“Why not?” Kara challenged, “What has your client provided in terms of community service to the area aside from a few football jerseys?”

“He sponsored all other sports at the schools, as well as—”

“Would you happen to have proof of the economic impact of his contributions to the region? If there even _was_ any positive economic—”

“The appraisal and value of the property are secondary to the—”

“It’s a three million dollar property, of course it’s—”

“Both our clients make four times that amount in a year!” Lena cried in exasperation.

“Then it’s not a drop in the bucket, it’s a quarter of their individual earnings!” Kara exclaimed. “You must also consider the emotional cost of—”

“They do not appraise houses for emotional costs,” Lena retorted, “If they did, every home in America would be—”

“So three million dollars is nothing when Mike’s paying some woman for an abortion and a gag order, but it’s a significant amount when we’re talking about his own husband?!”

The blood immediately drained from her face as soon as the words left her mouth. Never in her life had she even come close to breaking the sacred lawyer-client bond. A shadow passed across Lena's face and Kara almost wished the woman would strike her instead of looking at her like that.

“What the fuck, Luthor?!” Mike roared before flipping over the table. Kara watched her flinch at her last name, but knew there was nothing she could do to fix anything right now. “What’s the point in lawyer-client privilege if you’re just gonna tell her everything?!”

“H-how did you know that?” Lena asked her with a cracking voice and shaking hands, but Kara’s brain had stopped firing the moment she realized just how badly she had fucked everything up.

Mike stormed out of the room as Judge Grant called for order among the chaos. The spectators in the gallery were a mix of cheers for Mike’s anti-monogamy lifestyle or nasty comments in defense of Winn’s honor. The tech genius grabbed his phone from the neutral table and began furiously typing as he followed Mike’s lead out of the courtroom to who-knows-where.

“Counselors,” Judge Grant said to the immobile pair before her, “You have one week before I dismiss this case entirely and let the chips fall where they may. Get your shit together.”

The courtroom emptied around them, but Kara could barely breathe as she watched her wife shake her head and walk away. She turned to Jess and found the secretary looking at her like a beloved pet had just taken a bite out of her hand. She managed to take a breath with only a few shudders racking her body before returning to her table and packing up her bag.

Soon enough the courtroom was empty and she looked up to find Lena telling Jess to leave for the day. Kara gathered the last remaining fragments of her blasted courage and rounded the table to face the woman waiting for her head on.

“How did you—”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“Bullshit.” Lena snarled with a glare.

“It was an accident, I swear,” Kara heard her voice crack, but forced herself to continue, “I was taking out the trash, but the bag broke so I picked everything up—I didn’t even know what it was until I had already read—it was on a sticky note!—and in the heat of the moment it just popped into my head and—”

“I don’t believe you.”

Kara winced at her words, but managed to keep the lump in her throat under control before it caused a chain reaction.

“It’s the truth, Lena. You think I don’t know that I fucked up?”

“I want a divorce.”

The words hurt more than any punch or slap she had experienced ever had.

“Y-you…you want a…” Kara couldn’t even get her mouth to form the word, let alone give voice to it.

“Yes.” She looked up and found Lena’s eyes swimming in unshed tears. The brunette was in just as much pain as she was. This couldn’t be the solution if they both felt like a knife had been lodged into their very soul. She had to at least try to right the ship.

“One little hiccup, a bump in the road, and we give in?” Kara swallowed the lump in her throat and settled her mind to her task. “Just like all the saps we represent?”

“This was _not_ the first time you’ve pulled a courtroom stunt like this at my expense so save me the moral battering ram.” Lena said, but paused to compose herself after the memories of that first case hit her like a truck. “This marriage wasn’t even real!”

“And what about the professional fallout you seem so desperate to avoid?”

“What the hell would you call this?” Lena shouted, gesturing about the empty courtroom, “This is _exactly_ what I was afraid of in the first place!”

“I don’t believe in divorce—”

“How can you eve say that? You make your living—”

“It’s a job!” Kara cried, allowing her tears to finally cascade down her face. There was too many emotions vying for control of her mind; fear, anger, frustration, hopelessness, despair… And all of it was her fault, and hers alone. She let her face fall into her hands, but for only a moment.

“I respect your ability to literally live your career, and L-Corp is the amazing law firm it is only because of your sacrifices, but I’m not like that,” she said in a rush, a single breath. “What do you see in those miserable couples? What do you really see?”

“Us!” Lena answered with fresh tears of her own, “I see us—people who have made a terrible mistake.”

“I see people who are not willing to fight!” Kara shouted before leaning heavily against the table in defeat, “It’s all I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why I’m so good at litigating these separations, at causing so much pain—a cruel twist of fate, I guess. I’ve watched more friends than I can count give up when they should’ve fought for the ones they love! Fight fair, fight dirty, but fight!”

“People who fight to save their marriage are in a marriage they want to be in!”

“I am!” Kara cried, but Lena rolled her eyes.

“That’s a lie!”

“No, it’s not!” Kara pushed off the table and took a couple tentative steps towards her, “I’m surprised you haven’t figured this out yet, but I’m not here to save my career, I’m here because I’m in love with you!”

Lena’s eyes widened in shock at the declaration, but Kara only continued to bear her soul to the woman.

“I’ve been saying it and saying it—I don’t even know how many times I’ve told you I loved you where you didn’t pick up on it! I’ve known sine the first time you walked into my apartment that I was in love with you—it’s like a physical law of the universe… and there’s no way out of it, but…”

Kara took a deep, steadying breath and wiped her cheeks. Lena stood before her like a piece of shattered glass where a slight change in the breeze might cause her to crumble before her. It killed her to realize she was the one responsible for the pain and sorrow coursing through the brunette’s veins.

The ache in her own chest became almost unbearable when she realized what needed to be done. If Lena truly didn’t feel the same, then there was only one solution to end her wife’s…ex-wife’s…suffering.

“If a divorce is really what you want, I will sign any papers you send me. You should know by now that if it would make you happy, I’d do damn near anything for you.”

She nodded once, to convince herself of her convictions before meeting Lena’s eye for a brief moment. The woman stared at her without seeing, face still as stone while the tears continued to fall. Kara knew from seven months experience that she wasn’t going to say anything, so she picked up her bag and headed towards the back of the room.

“I’ll be around later to pick up my things,” she told the door, but knew Lena would hear her, “I’ll text Jess so you won’t have to see me again.”

Lena watched as the door clicked shut behind her before her knees gave out and she sunk into her chair, thankful that no one was around to witness the depths of her despair.

Jack picked her up a half hour later, with a panicked look caused by Lena’s unusual typo-filled and near incomprehensible texts. She laughed at her own disheveled appearance when he produced an emergency make-up kit from his briefcase.

“Why do you even have this?” She asked between blowing her nose and wiping off what remained of her mascara.

“All my friends are chicks,” he said, rubbing her back, “What sort of friend would I be if I didn’t carry it?”

Lena snorted at his surprisingly sound reasoning, but it was a poor attempt at their usual banter.

“Come on,” he said before pulling her to her feet, “Let’s get some of those truly awful vegetable smoothies you love and head back to the workshop so you can blow shit up.”

“It’s not all spinach and kale, they’ve got fruit in them too.”

“They taste like grass clippings,” he insisted, arm over her shoulder as they exited the courtroom.

A few hours later Kara had returned to her old apartment with a packed rental car. After grabbing the nearest box, she ascended the grimy stairs and unlocked her door. The interior was covered in a thin layer of dust after two months of standing empty. She kicked the door shut behind her and threw the box across the room before sliding down to the floor against the back of the door.

She barely managed to pull herself together and find her phone and dial. Why did it feel like she was trying to breathe underwater? The thin gold chain around her neck felt like it was made of led. Each breath was a battle against the gold ring resting on her chest.

“What’s up?” Alex’s carefree voice filled the silent apartment.

“A-Alex?” Kara couldn’t stop it. Her voice cracked and all at once the reality of what had happened came crashing down around her ears. She gasped as the sobs racked her body and clutched the ring around her neck like she might be able to rip her own heart out to stop the pain.

“Where are you?” Alex asked in a mild panic.

“Chinatown.” She managed to choke out.

If Alex was surprised by her sudden return to the old apartment, she didn’t mention it. She stayed on the line the entire ride over, reciting nonsense about her boring day to give Kara something to focus on while her sister struggled to pull herself together. Alex wasn’t sure if there was enough bourbon in Kentucky to heal wounds like that.

The following afternoon, Lena returned to her apartment with Jack serving as her self-appointed safety blanket. He stood at her apartment door, key in hand, hesitating until she gave him the go-ahead. She nodded and closed her eyes before stepping over the threshold.

The gravity of the situation fell heavily on her shoulders as she surveyed the apartment she almost didn’t recognize. Gone were the tiny flashes of bold colors that turned her sterile décor into something warm and inviting. No bright red punching bag standing in the corner of the living room. No gleaming copper pots hanging above the island that caught the first rays of the rising sun. No canary yellow teapot, no Green Martian themed blanket, and no picture frames in shades of blue and red crowding the coffee table.

It was cold and distant and unyielding and Lena felt like turning around and running right out the door. Had she really been living like this for nearly a decade? There wasn’t a single picture or smudge of personality anywhere in her apartment. It looked entirely staged, like she was living in a hotel room.

“I didn’t know these were yours.” Jack smiled, reaching out to poke a lucky cat’s paw on the TV stand. Lena had accumulated a little collection of them during their trips to Chinatown for groceries. “No…the Black Death microbe pillow is yours?”

“It is.” Lena said, reaching out to cuddle the soft plushy to her chest. Jack immediately softened and his brows knit in concern.

“Maybe we should go shopping on our sick day, hmm?”

Lena looked around, but stopped as her eyes landed on the closed guest room door. Kara hadn’t slept there the entire time they’d been living together, but she wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to open the door.

Suddenly her phone rang on the kitchen counter. Had she been more aware of her actions, she probably would’ve been ashamed at the way she rushed over to pick it up. Jack slowly followed her back to the kitchen with a pained expression on his face.

“Hello?” Lena asked as soon as she picked up the phone. She didn’t realize she had been hoping it was Kara until Jess’s voice ghosted across the line. Lena confirmed her schedule for tomorrow and the line went dead. She turned to her friend with fresh tears pooling in her eyes.

“Come here, love,” Jack said as he brought her into his arms, “It’ll be okay… It’ll be all right.”

Across town, Kara had decided that sitting on the floor was an entirely underrated experience. It was what she deserved, after all, covered in dust and dirt with the molding from the door digging painfully into her back.

She had managed to get her items back in the apartment with Alex’s help, but they remained in their neat little boxes by the corner. She should probably dig through the demolished box she chucked across the room earlier to see what all she had broken, but she honestly preferred just staring at the abstract mirror image of herself.

“What’s so funny?” Alex mumbled, passing over the handle of whiskey.

“I finally understand abstract art,” Kara said, pointing to the crumpled box at the other end of the room.

“Fuck off,” Alex said before taking another piece of pizza from the box between them. “You’re like, ‘the girl of steel’ or something. You’ll figure out a way to make this.”

“There’s nothing to fix.”

“We are sitting on the floor eating pizza and drinking whiskey out of the bottle,” Alex pointed out as Kara shook her head at her sister's misunderstanding. “Why can’t it be fixed.”

“I ruined her career just like she feared,” she replied with a hiccup, “I broke her trust. I should’ve just told her about the note when it happened. I didn’t even think about it ever coming up in court.”

“Okay, shit happens,” Alex said around her bite of pizza. “Why can’t it be fixed?”

“It doesn’t work like in the movies, you know that.” Kara said, leaning her head back against the wall to stare at the ceiling. “I’m sorry for being an asshole.”

“When? What are you talking about?” Alex asked with a confused look, Kara had switched gears, but hadn’t bothered to tell her where this conversation was headed.

“With Maggie,” Kara said, wiping the unshed tears from her eyes. “I should’ve listened to you. These things happen.”

“Gods, you’ve got some clay feet.”

“I know.”

“A coward.”

“Hey, now,” Kara warned her sister with an eye cracked open to look at her.

“Yeah? What’re you gonna do, cry on me?”

“Maybe.”

“This isn’t like you.” Alex said, taking back her bottle of whiskey from Kara’s cross-legged lap. “When I got divorced you threw a frying pan at my head.”

“It was a hair dryer.”

“It _felt_ like a frying pan,” Alex said before taking a swig from the bottle. “If you don’t get up off your ass and make it better, I’ll start throwing shit at you too.”

“You can’t be mad at me for not doing anything to save my marriage when you did the exact same thing.”

“Yeah, I can.”

“You can’t have it both ways.”

“This is not an irreconcilable challenge, and you’re not a coward.” Alex pointed an accusatory finger at her sister. “So what gives? Why are you backing down now?”

Kara fiddled with the emerald ring on her finger, twirling it around and around as she allowed her thoughts to spiral. Alex was right; she was throwing in the towel at the first sign of trouble, just like she accused Lena of doing the day before. She was certain in her feelings for the woman, but why was she hesitating?

“I don’t think she feels the same about me,” Kara said, more to answer her own internal monologue than anything else. “I think… maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe she was pretending the whole time.”

Jack was not fairing any better with Lena. She managed to get the guest bedroom back to normal with Jack’s help and her items from storage ended up in the donation pile after she realized she hadn’t missed them at all in the past two months. The pair sat huddled together on the couch with bowls of Indian takeout littering the coffee table.

“You can’t live your life trying to avoid problems,” Jack said, his arm protectively draped across her shoulders.

“I’m not trying to avoid problems,” Lena insisted, but he could tell her resolve was weak.

“What is it you tell your foolish interns? You can’t be efficient with people, you need to be effective.”

“How is that possibly relevant?”

“You’re trying to be efficient by cutting her out of your life like she’s some sort of tumor.” Jack explained.

“She’s not a tumor,” Lena said taking a sip of her wine, “She was a mistake.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Yes… maybe… no…” Lena finally relented.

“I thought so,” Jack said as Lena rested her head on his shoulder. “But I’m officially all out of favors. Do you have any idea how much that article in The City Vista cost? I had to bribe like three reporters.”

Lena immediately sat up to look at her friend with wide eyes before asking, “That was you?”

“You know the rules,” Jack teased, just as he had over brunch that seemed like a lifetime ago, “No NDA, no promises.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Rainyday7, reenosweeny, and madammayor28 for the kind words of analysis, gentle encouragement, and patience <3 <3 <3  
> (You probably thought you showed up at my door with torches and pitchforks, but I was too thankful for all the selfless help to notice :D )

Monday morning arrived with all the pomp and circumstance of an unwanted intestinal parasite. Or at least that’s what Lena decided. Judge Grant had called L-Corp demanding to see Lena Luthor in her chambers within the hour. She knew immediately that this had to be about Mike and Winn’s case as none of her other cases had been assigned to the judge.

She arrived at the courthouse, briefcase in hand, and ready to be royally chewed out by the proud woman for the spectacle they caused on Friday. Honestly, Lena was surprised that no one had reported either of them to the National City bar association. She turned the corner and immediately stopped in her tracks.

Kara Danvers sat on the bench outside the judge’s chambers with her elbows resting on her knees. She watched the blonde fiddle with the emerald ring on her finger as she stared at the marble floor. The woman looked like the very essence of a kicked puppy and Lena noticed dark circles under her eyes that had never been there before. Her pants were clearly on their second day of use and her shirt had more wrinkles than she had ever seen—had she slept in the suit? If Lena was being honest, she probably wasn’t fairing much better herself.

“You’re still wearing your ring.” Kara mumbled without looking at her.

Lena used her thumb to touch the ring on her finger. She had forgotten that it was even there.

“So are you,” Lena countered as the blonde nodded in agreement. It was clear that she wasn’t going to continue the conversation unless prompted. “How, uh, how was your weekend?”

“It was fine,” Kara said without any emotion at all.

She looked…hollow almost. Like she was just going through the motions of her life instead of living it. Lena had always seen her as a second sun, a personification of the morning light, a woman who appeared to live her entire life in the golden hour of the setting sun. But even suns die, and when they do black holes form in their place, consuming themselves and everyone around them.

“Good morning, Counselors.” Judge Grant said, opening the door for them to enter.

They followed her into the office and stood in their usual places before the judge’s desk. Kara shoved her hands into her pockets and stared unblinkingly at the immaculate desk before them. Lena tried to mask her trembling hands by hugging her midsection. Thankfully Cat either didn’t notice their discomfort or, more likely, didn’t care.

“Some 16-year-old called my personal cell—at four in the morning.” She complained to them. “I don’t know how she managed to find the number considering it’s a secure line.”

Kara shuffled uncomfortably as she realized this must be Winn’s doing. He normally hired remote assistants from around the world who where just as adept at hacking and coding as he was. More often than not they were the high school kids and college fraternity pledges that managed to hack into his systems.

“She informed me that your client will not be appearing in court today, Mrs. Danvers. And your client, Mrs. Luthor, left this lovely message on my answering machine.”

Cat pressed a button on the outdated landline in her office and Mike’s voice filled the space. Lena could hear the last call for boarding in the background. He must have called from the airport terminal.

“Good evening, Judge Grant. You can tell my dear husband that if he wants our house he can come and take it over my dead body.”

“Now,” Judge Grant said with more than a little annoyance coloring her tone, “I think we all know that Winn probably got his hands on that message by now. And seeing as the house has not been awarded to either of them, it remains off limits to both parties.”

Lena and Kara nodded in understanding, but neither dared to open their mouth and risk offending the irate woman.

“I’m giving you 48 hours to get them back here before I dismiss the case entirely so we can all get on with our lives. It’s caused enough problems already.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” They said in perfect synchronism before heading towards the door.

“A word, Mrs. Luthor?” Cat asked, stopping Lena in her tracks as the door closed behind Kara.

Lena turned back to find the judge holding out a piece of paper for her. She accepted the document and failed to hide the hitch in her breath when she realized what it was. Kara had beaten her to the punch and filed for a divorce.

“This came across my desk this morning, but I’m assuming it was simply another error on her part,” Cat said with a stern look, “I know you two face each other more often than not in court, but she should really know better than to put the lawyer’s names where the client names are supposed to go.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Lena said with a deep breath. It took all of her mental fortitude to remain focused on the woman before her rather than the paper in her hands.

“This,” Cat said, refusing to continue until Lena met her gaze, “is a rookie mistake.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Lena said, but the hitch in her words gave her away.

“Are you okay?” She asked with such sincerity that Lena almost spilled her guts to the woman.

“I’m fine.” Lena insisted.

They met again on the plane. Much to her chagrin, Jess had insisted on arranging both of their travel arrangements. Lena was furious at first, but cooled off quickly at the woman’s sharp tone and logic. Kara did have the home field advantage out there, so ensuring they both had an equal opportunity to retrieve their idiotic clients was just good planning.

They sat on opposite sides of the same row, but the plane was just as empty as their last trip out to Mapleville. Lena spent the entire flight reading and re-reading the same ten page case file as she stole glances at the blonde woman sleeping through the red-eye flight across from her.

Kara hadn’t packed more than a backpack for the journey, and she was already dressed in her uniform flannel and jeans that seemed to be customary for the region. Lena was thankful she remembered to get a few casual clothing items of her own before leaving town considering she wouldn’t be borrowing the blonde’s extra this time.

Kara looked around the airport parking lot in the early morning sun for her pickup truck before remembering Jess had arranged a rental to be parked at the airport for them. Lena led the way to the station wagon, but opened the passenger-side door out of habit before she realized what had happened.

“It’s okay,” she said, walking around the front of the car, “I don’t mind driving.”

“Thank you.” Lena said in a quiet voice.

“We’re going straight there, right?” Kara asked with a slight hesitation in her voice, “I, um, I don’t think I can face Eliza right now.”

“I think you’d have a better chance of surviving Eliza that I would.” Lena joked with a wince as they pulled onto the road.

“You’d be dead wrong.” Kara’s short self-loathing laugh coaxed a smile out of Lena, her first real smile in days.

“Speaking of angry matrons, Cat Grant wanted me to remind you that filling out divorce paperwork incorrectly is kindergarten stuff.”

“What do you mean?” Kara asked, but her face had paled at Lena’s words. She knew exactly what the brunette was referring to.

“Apparently, she thought you put our names down by mistake.” Lena said, digging around in her bag for the document, “She didn’t want to embarrass you for faulty paperwork after what happened last Friday, so she gave it to me. You filed for divorce?”

“You asked me to.” Kara whispered.

“I guess she didn’t believe you.” Lena said with a small smile.

It pained her dearly to see the blonde so beat up and broken. For once she had done exactly what Lena had asked, but…it felt wrong—all of it. She didn’t realize just how _right_ everything had felt with Kara until it had all been ripped out from under her. It was like gravity had suddenly stopped working—what had Kara said? A physical law of the universe. Was that why her fingers were twitching to grab her hand as if called by some magnetic force despite the gaping chasm between them?

They finally arrived at the Mapleville estate in the late afternoon. The butler greeted them as an old friend and offered to bring them some light refreshments while they waited for Winn and Mike. They had just settled into the small sitting room when a loud crash caused them both to jump into action.

“Mike!!” A blood-curdling scream tore through the house.

Kara sprinted out of the room in pursuit of the strangled cries and loud crashes coming from the opposite side of the house with Lena not far behind her. Had Mike and Winn gotten into another fight with no one around to stop them from killing each other? Another loud crash sounded down the hall and Lena could tell from sound alone that someone’s bones had been broken.

Kara skidded to a stop before the dining room door and kicked it open without hesitation. Lena rushed in behind her, but slammed into her back as the blonde came to a sudden stop just beyond the threshold. Lena noticed an overturned table with a wooden leg snapped in half—that must’ve been the sound of breaking bones she’d heard—before turning to face the scene that caught Kara’s attention.

There was Winn… and Mike… naked—very naked, sweat pouring down their exposed chest and arms, bent over the table in front of them with the dumbest looks on their faces. It took a good five seconds for everyone to realize what had happened, but as soon as they did everyone turned beat red. The women turned to avert their gaze, and Kara held her stomach like she might be ready to vomit at any second.

“I’m so sorry,” Lena managed to say, facing the wall like her life depended on it, “We heard screaming and a crash… we thought…”

Mike chuckled from the opposite side of the room. “I think you two might need to re-evaluate your sex life.”

“Don’t be mean,” Winn said and Lena heard a wet slap ring out through the room. She prayed to every god she knew that it was just a hand slapping a sweaty shoulder.

“Can you guys cover up, please?” Kara implored beside her.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Mike assured them.

They were most certainly not good. Winn at least had enough shame and embarrassment to grab the tablecloth to wrap around his body, but Mike stood before them in his full glory with nothing but a shredded t-shirt held in front of his sensitive bits.

“I’m going to have to bleach my brain,” Kara groaned, raising her hand to block out most of his body.

“What are you guys doing here?” Lena asked; eyes glued to the ceiling.

“Well, uh…” Mike began, but Winn saved him from saying something stupid.

“We had both gotten here last night, you know, dead set on demolishing the entire building.”

“Yeah, but then Gerry called to wish us a happy anniversary,” Mike finished with a broad smile before placing a passionate kiss on Winn’s lips.

“Gerry Reynolds? The previous owner?” Kara asked.

“Yeah,” Winn pushed his husband away to talk, “we told him about the divorce, but then we got to talking with him—”

“Can you believe we’ve been together for ten years?” Mike said with such love that even Lena felt happy for them.

“We were so young and stupid.” Winn mocked, but pulled his husband in for a kiss anyway. “Gerry gave us some sage advice about his own marriage—”

“He reminded us why he gave us the house in the first place.” Mike explained, “He got married young as well and apparently I’m just as much of a hound dog as Clyde was back in the day.”

“That’s an image I really didn’t need…” Kara groaned beside her.

“Anyway, we decide to give it another go.” Winn said with conviction, “We already know all of each other’s faults, we’ve already hurt each other more times than either of us can count—and we’ve still managed to come out the other side in spite of it all. It’s time for us to grow up and make this marriage work, you know?”

“You can’t give up on someone you love, right?” Mike said, “Gerry is pretty smart for a 90-year-old. He said it’s time for me to decide what I’m willing to stand up and fight for.”

Kara remembered the days when Clyde and Gerry lived in the big house on the hill. The whole county got together for Clyde’s funeral after he lost his fight with cancer. It wasn’t two years later that Winn and Mike had visited her during summer break and ended up staying in the town for the next few years.

“What are you two doing here, anyway?” Mike asked.

“Neither of you are supposed to be at the property until it’s been awarded and the divorce is finalized.” Lena replied.

“But it’s our home,” Winn declared as if daring them to try and remove them.

“So you no longer want to get a divorce?” Lena asked in confusion.

“No… but, um, thanks for coming all this way.” Mike said.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Winn asked like this is the sort of conversation that happens all the time after walking in on someone having sex on the dining room table.

“Mike? What the—Ahh!”

Kara and Lena turned to find none other than Jonn Jonzz hiding behind what remained of the kick-in door trying to remove the image of a very naked Mike from his eyes.

“Father Jonzz?” Kara asked in confusion.

“Mike? You asked me to come over to discuss the upcoming sport schedules?”

“Oh, shit,” Mike said, slapping his forehead, “I totally forgot about that.”

“Should I go?” Jonn asked, but it sounded more like a wish.

“No, no, it’s fine.” Mike insisted, finally scrambling around the room to find his pants, “We were going to the pub for dinner anyway, we’ll just talk about it then.”

“Great,” Jonn mumbled.

“I didn’t know you were involved with the sports league,” Kara said, still perplexed by the sudden appearance of the priest.

“What do you mean?” Jonn asked, equally confused. “I coach the women’s field hockey team here in Mapleville and chair the scheduling committee for the region.”

“I didn’t think you’d have time for all that on top of running the church.”

“Oh, I see what you’re talking about.” Jonn laughed at her misunderstanding. “That’s just a costume for the Midsummer Festival, I thought I told you that.”

Lena’s eyes widened as she realized he was referring to their conversation that day after she had woken up at the table next to him.

“I get kind of volunteered to be the priest every year. Apparently it’s something about my voice.”

“So…” Lena’s brain was struggling to catch up with all the new information, “You’re not a real priest?”

“No, but the courthouse has the marriage certificates ready to be signed the following morning for any of the couples that want to make it official.” He glanced down at their left hands and returned their shocked faces with a smile. “I’m glad you two went ahead and did it for real. I’ll see you boys at the pub.”

“So…” Kara’s voice shuddered beside her as Jonn walked out of the room, “So that means…”

“Oh no.” Lena gasped next to her, finally realizing what Jonn was talking about.

It wasn’t real—the wedding, their marriage, none of it. What had she done? Almost thrown her entire career in jeopardy no less than three times in the past year for apparently no reason whatsoever.

“Well, then…” Kara said looking every bit as though she had been slapped right across the face. “The last thing anyone in this room seems to need is a divorce attorney.”

“Uh, no…” Winn said with a red face, “But we’d still like to cover your hours.”

“Yes, absolutely!” Mike agreed, “You two have done more to bring us together than almost anyone else.”

“This is a disaster.” Lena mumbled, dragging a hand across her forehead.

“I, uh, won’t be joining you all for dinner,” Kara managed to say as she fled the room, “Excuse me.”

Winn and Mike remained frozen as they watched her vanish from the room while Lena began her customary anxious pacing. Mike slowly walked over to the broken desk to retrieve Winn’s clothes, keeping one eye on the frantic woman.

“Are you all right?” Winn asked once he had gotten dressed.

“I’m getting there,” Lena said as she continued mulling over everything that had happened.

She was going to throttle Jack as soon as she got back to National City. Jonn wasn’t a priest, they hadn’t signed anything at the courthouse, there was nothing tying them together aside from that stupid article. And now she had to figure out how she was going to get a divorce when they hadn’t actually been married. Why is it her entire life always gets turned upside down whenever she came to this god-forsaken town?

“Lena?” Mike’s gentle voice drowned out the din of her rapid thoughts.

“Give her a minute,” Winn chastised, but he wasn’t listening.

Mike used the pause in her pacing to slowly walk up to her, hands up like he was approaching a startled animal. What did he think he was going to tell her? How could a man like him dare to think there was any sage wisdom he could impart? She wasn’t the one who pity-fucked her way up and down the coast. She wasn’t the one with the emotional span of a garden gnome. She wasn’t the one who like to mix business with pleasure and risk a multi-million dollar signing bonus just for a quick lay in the locker room.

But then again maybe he wasn’t that far off to be giving her shitty advice in the first place. Had she not mastered the art of the one-night stand in the years since she’d moved to National City? Even the women whose numbers she chose to keep in her phone never expected more than the night. And as much as she hated it, Jack had been right all those months ago. She didn’t even realize how isolated she had become until Kara had crashed into her life. Wasn’t she the one who officially asked Kara out in the first place? She knew it was foolish to date a lawyer standing opposite her in the courtroom, but she had done it anyway.

“Do you want to know what I think?” Mike asked.

“Oh god,” Winn said in dismay, “please don’t make this worse.”

“I think you guys have had a lover’s tiff.”

“You think?” Lena laughed at his word choice. That was the under statement of the year.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s a moron when it comes to this kind of stuff,” Winn implored, shoving his husband out of the way so he could grab Lena by the shoulders. “Remember what you told me? Relationships take a lot of work and sometimes you just need to power through the rough patches.”

“This is not the same situation by any stretch.” Lena shook her head at their mediocre advice.

“And you said _I_ was bad at this.” Mike complained.

“Shut up.” Winn spat before turning his attention back to her. “Look, you know exactly who you are, right? Got it all figured out?”

Lena nodded after a brief moment of consideration.

“You think Kara has any idea who she is in the grand scheme of things?”

“No, not in the slightest.” Lena laughed at the mere thought of it. The only thing consistent in the blonde’s life until this point was the constant unmooring and drifting between careers and cities alike.

“Maybe she needs a little time to catch up.” Winn said with a small smile.

“You can’t just take Gerry’s advice and pawn it off as your own.” Mike said with an exaggerated eye roll. “Can we go eat now?”

Lena made her excuses to the boys about missing dinner with them and wandered out of the house looking for a streak of blonde hair. She wasn’t by the entrance or the car, but she wandered over the to ridge of the lookout to take a last look at the city below. Kara apparently had the same idea because the blonde was sitting on the low stone wall, kicking her heels as the sun set over the far side of the mountains surrounding the valley.

“Don’t you just love a happy ending?” Lena asked sarcastically as she sat next to the woman.

“Huh?” She asked, turning to face her with the blaze of the sun bringing out flecks of gold in her eyes.

“Tweedle Dee and Dumb in there.” She gestured to the house with a raised chin before swinging her legs over the wall to face the sun with her. “Looks like they’ll be okay eventually.”

Kara snorted at her assessment, “Mike and Winn are going to end up killing each other.”

Lena nodded in agreement, but couldn’t quite tear her eyes away from her. There it was again, that magnetic feeling tingling through her limbs, telling her to stay right here and never leave. Kara closed her eyes against the breeze flying up the hill from the valley below, but the self-loathing and pain was still there, etched deep into every corner of her face. Lena might’ve missed it had she not been living with the woman for the past couple months.

“I know you don’t believe me,” Kara said, playing with some gravel beside her, “but it truly was an accident.”

“I do believe you,” Lena said with conviction. “You said you would never lie to me.”

“I understand what you kept trying to tell me earlier. An accident like this could’ve ended our careers… put L-Corp in serious jeopardy… ruin the reputations of the people we work with—at least on your end.” Kara sighed heavily and wrung her hands together in her lap. “I should’ve just listened to you; it never would’ve worked between us.”

“I can see where this speech going,” Lena said with a knowing smirk that Kara couldn’t see.

“What if there’s nothing I can do to make this right?” She asked in a small voice.

“Guess you’ll never know until you try.” She tried to hide the blatant smile in her voice, but the blonde saw right through it.

“I’m serious,” Kara insisted.

“Are you done trying to break up with me for my own good?” Lena asked with a raised brow while Kara just harrumphed next to her. “This was never going to be an easy thing, you and I. You’re a very young at heart, flighty, untried lawyer with absolutely zero passion for what you do. And you’re trying to convince yourself that you aren’t forcing yourself through a purposeless existence.”

“I sound like quite the catch the way you’re describing me,” Kara said in exasperation, burying her head in her hands out of embarrassment. “How the hell did I ever convince you to go on a date with me?”

“The same way Jack and Jess finally convinced me they were my friends; patience and perseverance.”

“I’m going to throw myself off this cliff.” Kara’s cheeks burned with shame. Lena was having far too much fun being the insistent one for once.

“You’re a good person even if you have a terrible way of showing it.” She said, bumping into her shoulder. “You care deeply about your friends and their happiness—even if it turns you to be the villain. You always want to do the right thing, fight for the right causes and it frustrates you that most things aren’t as easy as right and wrong.”

“Again, these backhanded complements are giving me whiplash,” Kara said, but she laid her head down on Lena’s shoulder nevertheless. “I’m not a complete idiot. I know we can’t be together like this.”

“So change it.”

“What if I don’t know how?” She asked in a small voice.

“This coming from the woman who left me notes and junk food as part of a weird little mating ritual.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Kara argued.

“Well, that’s not good enough for me,” Lena told her. “I do love you, Kara. It seems only fair that it’s my turn to take up that ridicules mantle and not give up on you while you get your head out of your ass.”

“You’ve never said that before,” she pointed out, giving Lena an odd look, but the brunette just brushed it off.

“I think I’m gonna stay here for a few days.” Kara said, changing the subject as the sun finally touched the horizon. “Try and get my head screwed on right. You’ll be okay getting to the airport tonight?”

“Yeah,” Lena assured her before swinging her legs back over the wall.

She took one last look at the woman who had caused so much unwelcome chaos in her life and realized that she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to go back to the status quo. Kara seemed to realize she was being watched and turned to give her one a brilliant smile. Maybe the two idiots were right. Maybe, just maybe, they’d be all right in the end.

“I hope you’ll come crashing back into my life some day.” Lena said with more than a little trepidation. This could be the last time she ever saw the blonde.

“You can absolutely count on it.” Kara assured her without missing a beat. “I promise.”

She looked closer, trying to memorize every detail in the blonde’s face, the exact shade of blue in her eyes, the way her hair glowed in the sun. Without really intending to, Lena felt herself being pulled by a thread and when their lips connected she felt the earth’s gravity return. And for a brief, fleeting moment she knew the universe had resumed its regularly scheduled journey around the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so so SO sorry about ghosting you all, but work slammed into me like a freight train (sudden and violent and ugly). I promise it’s not over, but it’s probably going to be a little while more. This is literally the first time I’ve had to log in since I posted this chapter :’( work is easing us and I’ll get back on the horse as soon as I can!! Thank you all for sticking with me <3


End file.
